


Taming of the Raptor

by Dangerously_Demonic



Series: The Guide to Murder [7]
Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Murder, Angst and Feels, Blood and Injury, Depression, Gen, Human Experimentation, Human/Raptor Hybrid, InGen's Secrets, Injury Recovery, Jurassic World AU, MurderBby, Owen Isn't the Alpha, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-06-12 18:14:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 54,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15345657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dangerously_Demonic/pseuds/Dangerously_Demonic
Summary: Now that he's on the care team for the park's resident Utahraptor, Alpha, Rowan finds himself dealing with more than he bargained for. What started out as a merc contract turned sour steadily evolves into forming a close bond with a being that shouldn't exist. To make matters worse, he's caught in the middle of balancing what's needed for the raptor's well being while keeping everyone else from knowing the truth about the creature: Alpha was one of InGen's first hybrids.Between butting heads with the resident raptor trainer, Owen Grady, and keeping more secrets than any one man should, Rowan has his work cut out for him. As a final problem, Alpha isn't forthcoming with the care he needs, leaving Rowan to wonder if the damn raptor will end up being the death of him.





	1. Storm Warning

**Author's Note:**

> Confused about WTF is going on? Baffled on why a character acts the way they do? Read the earlier stories! 90% of answers can be found there.
> 
> Also, Rowan/Murder now have a tumblr because FeralCreed talked me into it: [Mega Book of Murder Stuff](https://megabookofmurderstuff.tumblr.com/)

****_Though my wings are clipped,_  
_My fury still burns bright,_  
 _A fire forever untamed._

The horizon to the south was a dark, angry grey with the outstretched fingers of the slowly approaching storm threatening to dig in. While tropical storm Nolan was still several days out, the park was already in the process of hunkering down. Emergency generators were being moved to the Creation Lab and any other buildings with sensitive contents.  For Rowan, this was an entirely new experience and he regretted skipping this part of the orientation. Still, he managed to stumble his way through it, mostly just by acting as dumb muscle and helping people move things.

Despite how much time there was till the storm was scheduled to hit, there was a thick tension in the air. The normally busy park was subdued; no new guests were being admitted till after the storm had passed and any damage could be assessed. Those who chose to remain had needed to sign a waiver that released the park from liability in the case of injury or death.

Even a large number of the park staff would be leaving soon, leaving only essential staff…Specifically, those involved with the dinosaurs and the crucial park systems. Given how he was tied up with dinosaur stuff, Rowan hadn’t been one of those who were allowed to leave. He wasn’t entirely worried, only partially, and just figured he’d rough it in the building attached to Murder’s enclosure.

Honestly, he still wondered if the…Thing had a human name instead of the project name assigned to him. Rowan had never bothered to ask once he’d been given the name ‘Murder’. Honestly, it was a pretty fitting name anyway and he didn’t think anything else would really work well. Still, he had more questions than answers. The orientation to the capture mission had given some information, but it all pointed to some very morally fucked things. If Murder had been made, what other things had InGen played with?

Sure, the hybrid was supposedly unsanctioned by the company, but still. The whole thing had been fishier than a sushi bar. Especially since Steve, the head of the ACU sent to Sorna, had let it slip that none of the mercs had meant to survive. Once more, Rowan’s impeccable luck had saved his ass.

As he worked to tie a tarp down, he mused over the events on Sorna. First the fucking hybrid had spared him after killing the others with him, then followed him to the camp, proceeded to slam him face first into the dirt, and then demanded he be led to the others; Rowan finished with the first knot and started on the second. Since he hadn’t any other choices, he had done so. Murder then lured the remaining mercs out, killed them, and…Got his ass shot up with tranqs once he went out into the opening.

Rowan stood up and stretched his back. Now, he was sort of stuck taking care of the guy. Could Murder even be considered that? Whatever. As far as Rowan knew, the hybrid had been on Sorna for nearly twenty years. He _looked_ older than that, but for all he knew Murder had been born in a test tube or some shit. The orientation had been fairly vague on the creature’s origin beyond ‘created by a mad scientist that we fired’. Frankly, Rowan was surprised that he could even talk. Sure, it was somewhat broken and Murder tended to use the wrong words, but Rowan usually managed to understand what was being said.

Overall, it was a damn weird situation and not one he’d ever expected to be in. At this point, however, all he could really do was run with it. Especially considering InGen currently held his leash. It was a long leash at least, but unlike many of the employees, he wasn’t allowed to leave the island unless he had a babysitter. Something about being a liability.

With the enclosure he’d been working on secure, Rowan slipped away to get lunch…Plus a little something extra for Murder. The food he happened to slip the freak was probably why he got away with so much. From his understanding, Murder had been kind of buddying up to Owen until the man started trying to get him to be ‘trained’. While the guy knew Murder was incredibly intelligent, he still thought he was an animal. Something the hybrid had found to be incredibly insulting.

Frankly, Rowan wasn’t going to tell him any different. There was no telling what would happen to Murder if it slipped on what he actually was. As it was, the critter seemed content to be in the enclosure, if a bit bored. Rowan had seen the mock-ups for the planned paddock and was actually a bit jealous because it sounded hella nice.

With the bag of mozzarella sticks in hand, plus his own lunch, Rowan made his way north to the restricted portion of the park. Since the crane that lifted Murder’s food had been dismantled for the moment, they’d taken to shooing in live steer…Something the hybrid seemed to enjoy immensely since it gave him an opportunity to hunt. As Rowan wandered down the hallway towards the shelter, he could hear Murder’s impatient huffs. He was late and figured he’d be grumped at for that.

Murder stood in the opening of his shelter and eyed the skies above. It was clear and sunny to the north, but the southern skies were dark. He’d weathered several tropical storms and a handful of hurricanes. They’d all been relatively mild, as far as storms went. Sure, they had turned the island into a mess, but the dinosaurs who’d been killed had made for easy food.

He glanced towards the hallway to his right and rolled his eyes. Rowan was late with the pre-lunch snack. Quite honestly, he’d been perfectly fine with the shift in staff, especially since Rowan tended to bring him tasty things. While he wasn’t a fan of the man’s constant bitching, it was better than Owen always trying to get him to do things. Sure, he understood the reasoning, but it was the principle of the matter.

The sound of footsteps alerted him to Rowan’s arrival and he moved to the inner gate, impatiently. Each day brought a different snack, most of which the man picked out for him. Murder made a few requests every now and then, but he wasn’t really that picky of an eater. Besides, everything he’d been offered so far had been pretty damn good. So, he didn’t have any reason to shake up the current routine.

As the man approached, Murder scented the air but huffed when he wasn’t able to smell what he’d been brought. Frustrated, he lightly pushed against the gate and reached out to Rowan in order to make grabby hands at him.

“Christ, you over grown lizard. Chill.” Rowan ducked the claws, but let out an annoyed sound and held his hat away from Murder. “Keep that shit up and you won’t get anything.”

This caused Murder to growl loudly, but he pulled his hand away and laid down with a huff. While he wasn’t a fan of ‘obeying’, he also knew Rowan would follow through with his threat. About a week ago, he stole the man’s hat and didn’t get any sort of ‘treats’ that day, despite having given the hat back. So, it sort of paid to ‘play nice’…At least until he got the food.

Rowan sat down in front of him and opened up the slightly crumpled paper bag, then fished out the breaded sticks before he held it out behind him. Curiously, Murder took one in his mouth and rolled it around on his tongue. The flavor seemed familiar.

“Mozzarella bread sticks. The pickings are going to be slim for the next few days. Whole park is shutting down.” Rowan paused to sip his drink. “They’re going to be shipping out non-essential staff tomorrow ‘cause of the tropical storm. He’s not weakening, and they think he might hit Cat 1 status late tonight. Could be Cat 2 when he hits the park.”

Murder quietly rumbled at this news. He wasn’t really familiar with the grading of storms, but figured that the higher numbers meant the storm was stronger. Instead, he nosed Rowan’s back for another cheese stick. For the most part, he tuned the man out while he complained about everything he’d been doing to help with the storm. The only thing he cared about was a steady supply of food being delivered to his mouth.

Unfortunately, the hand feeding session came to an abrupt end when Owen walked around the corner. Immediately, Rowan was given a disapproving look. The raptor trainer made it no secret that he abhorred Rowan’s blatant disregard for the rules he’d laid out, but at the same time there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it.

“One of these days, he’s going to be in a mood and you’re going to get your back ripped up.” Owen leaned against the wall with a frown.

“Haven’t we done this song and dance before?” Rowan simply held out another cheese stick. “Or are you just pissy that the big, bad Utahraptor isn’t buddy-buddy with you anymore? Can’t call yourself the only raptor trainer in the park now.”

Owen made a frustrated noise, “I don’t care that he’s bonding with you. What I _do_ care about is you purposely putting yourself in danger.”

“Him? Nah. He’s just an oversized lizard that likes junk food.”

“You really…” Finally, Owen just sighed. With the shit eating grin on Rowan’s face, it just wasn’t worth it. He went through this argument on a near day to day basis with the man. Somehow, Rowan hadn’t been violently mutilated by Alpha. Frankly, Owen was just waiting for the day when all he found at the gate was the man’s fucking cowboy hat.

“Aaaand you ate all your cheese sticks.” Rowan commented as he peered into the back. Then, he made a yell of surprise when the raptor suddenly shoved at his back with his nose. “Fucker! I’m not sharing my lunch.”

Murder growled and nipped the brim of Rowan’s hat before yanking it through the bars. Then, he stood up and moved out of the man’s reach as he tried to grab it. Quietly, he laughed. The sound was a throaty chittering and prompted Rowan to let out a long string of curses that started in English but quickly shifted into Spanish.

Owen watched his for a long moment before he shook his head. “I was going to ask how Alpha’s doing with the incoming storm, but I guess he’s doing fine.”

With a final curse, Rowan finally snatched back his hat, then critically examined the brim before settling it back on his head. “He’s doing fucking fine. Why do you ask?”

“A lot of the dinosaurs who haven’t gone through a storm are getting anxious. My girls are pacing their pen and I’m worried they might need to be sedated a bit. I was concerned Alpha might be doing the same, but…” Owen shrugged slightly.

“I know what you’re talking about…But, naw. Besides being an asshole, he’s being pretty chill. Hasn’t gone off food or anything.” Rowan glared at the raptor as he wandered out of the shelter, then looked back to Owen. “I’ll let you and Kaitlyn know if he starts freaking out. I’m planning on weathering out the storm here, anyway. I just need to cart up some food to eat.”

When Owen simply nodded, Rowan raised an eyebrow. “Not gonna try and talk me out of it?”

“Not really. Going to do the same thing with my girls.”

“Color me surprised.” Rowan commented as he bent down to pick up his trash. “Anyway. Gotta go. Have a laundry list of shit I gotta deal with.”

True to what Rowan had said, Tropical Storm Nolan strengthened into a Category 1 storm and showed signs of strengthening further. The park’s command center kept a close eye on the storm and had NOAA’s Hurricane Center webpage up on the screen at all times in order to send out frequent text updates to the park staff.

Rowan grimaced when his phone went off while he was in the middle of cleaning Murder’s shelter. He fished it out of his pocket and frowned at the update. Not only had Nolan continued to strengthen to a Category 2 hurricane, it had also shifted enough for a direct hit on the park and was forecasted to hit sometime in the early morning hours. Already the outer bands of the storm were brushing over the park and the southern portion of the island was getting rain. The only good news was the storm wasn’t expected to get any stronger and the command center expected only minimal damage. He tucked his phone back into his pocket and tossed a bale of shavings onto the floor.

As he cut open the bale, Murder came to the outer gate and snuffled the fresh shavings. Rowan flipped his knife shut and pocketed it. “Worried about the storm?”

Murder shook his head.

“Been through a few?” Rowan pulled the plastic off of the bale and started kicking the shavings around. Murder sneezed from the dust, but nodded his head.

“Huh. Figure you woulda since you were on Sorna and all. Probably didn’t have a fancy building like this to hunker down in.” He briefly walked to the wheelbarrow to grab another bale. Much like the first, he tossed it into the shelter so he could cut it open. When he went to cut it open, Murder had already wandered off.

It was later in the evening when Rowan dumped his things into the breakroom and sat down by the inner gate. He wasn’t sure where Murder was; it was raining pretty heavily already. Rowan figured that the raptor would have bedded down in the shelter, but apparently not. Thankfully, with how the shelter door was designed, the risk of Rowan getting wet from rain was next to nothing. Yawning, he turned his tablet on and thumbed through his apps to find the book he’d been reading.

A half chapter later and a loud clap of thunder caused Rowan to jump. Seconds later he heard the heavy footfalls of something running and Murder ducked into the shelter. Apparently, that had been more than enough to cause the freak to run for cover. “Getting bad out there?”

Murder nodded before he kicked around some of the bedding and laid down. While he wasn’t opposed to the idea of weathering the storm outside, it was kind of dumb to do so when he had a perfectly good shelter to sleep in. Once he’d settled in the pseudo nest, he stretched out and flopped onto his side. He wasn’t entirely sure on why Rowan had decided to spend the night since the storm wasn’t that bad, but as long as the man didn’t disturb his sleep, he really didn’t care. After another moment, he lifted his head long enough to yawn before he settled again. This time, he closed his eyes.

Since the raptor was intent on sleeping, Rowan simply went back to his book. He wasn’t quite tired yet, and besides that, he was a bit anxious over sitting through his first hurricane. Since his room was a few floors up in the worker apartments, he wasn’t about to weather the storm there…And the command center hadn’t been keen on the idea of him bunking there. So, hanging out with Murder was the next best choice.

At the moment, the storm didn’t seem much worse than a severe thunderstorm, but still. Another loud clap of thunder caused him to flinch and look up. To his left, Murder made a grumpy noise and climbed to his feet in order to move over to the wall. There, he laid down again. A few seconds later, small bits of hail bounced off the ground and into the opening of the shelter. Rowan let out a shaky exhale. This prompted a curious noise from Murder.

“Like I said the other day: never been through a hurricane before. Doesn’t seem too bad, but…” He gave a one shouldered shrug.

Murder simply grunted before curling up a bit to rest his head on his flank. There, he closed his eyes and made a content rumble. Rowan just shook his head and tried to focus back on his book.  At least the building was secure, and the hurricane wasn’t really all that strong, all things considered.

Since the power remained uninterrupted, Rowan switched to his phone while his tablet charged and continued reading. Murder had long since passed out, which he found surprising...Considering how noisy the storm was. That same noise masked the sound of Owen as the raptor trainer made his way down the hallway.

Rowan jumped when his name was said and he spat out a curse in Spanish before he glared at Owen. “What?”

Owen gave him an amused look, “I swung by to see how Alpha’s doing, but I guess I didn’t need to.” He gestured at the sleeping raptor.

“Him? Pft. He’s been asleep for probably the last two hours. How’s your girls?”

“Had to mildly sedate them. This is the first hurricane they’ve been through and they were freaked out. Finally made the call to have them sedated because I was worried they’d hurt themselves.” He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. “I guess with Alpha being wild that he’s seen a few storms…Since we don’t know how old he is.”

“Oh, yeah. He spent most of the time outside till the storm started getting really loud. Then he came in and passed out.”

Owen nodded and was tempted to remark about how close Rowan was to the gate, but figured it’d just be a waste of time. “Going to bed here for the night?”

“Yeah. Didn’t know how he was gonna react, so I decided to camp out just in case.” Rowan wasn’t about to mention the actual reason.

“Good call. Alright, I’m going to head back to the other pen while we’re still in the eye. Kaitlyn’s on call, so if he does start freaking out…There’s a tranq gun in the breakroom. She’ll be able to tell you how much to dose up.”

Rowan side eyed Murder. While the raptor looked asleep, he was pretty sure he saw the critter slightly open an eye. “I don’t think I’ll need to do that. He slept through most of the storm so far. I don’t see that changing.”

“I don’t either, but figured I’d let you know.” Owen gave the other man a slight nod before he left.

Rowan managed to stay up another hour before he finally dragged himself to the breakroom in order to flop out on the too short couch. Hurricane Nolan had turned out to be anything but impressive. As soon as it had hit the island, it’d started losing a bit of steam and was currently flirting with the idea of being downgraded to a Category 1.

With a sigh, Rowan tugged his hat down so that it covered his eyes in order to block out the overhead light. The couch wasn’t exactly the most comfortable thing in the world, but he’d slept on much, much worse. Despite the rumbles of thunder above, he managed to fall asleep.

Morning arrived far, far quicker than he would have liked. It wasn’t the storm that woke him, oh no. The loud, echoing _bellow_ of Murder demanding breakfast was what did it. Groaning, Rowan rolled off the couch and nearly fell in the floor thanks to his left leg being asleep. He started limping out of the breakroom. “Shut the fuck up, you fucking lizard!”

This only prompted Murder to bellow louder. Scowling, Rowan stalked to the inner gate and glared at the hybrid who glared right back. Finally, he hit the button to close the outside gate. “I’ll see about finding someone to help me with the steer.”

Unfortunately, the idea of waiting didn’t appeal to Murder who simply started making a godawful screech. The screeching, bellyaching, and overall temper tantrum didn’t end until the raptor had been released from the shelter to eat. Rowan rubbed the side of his head and quietly wondered how the hell he’d ended up caring for something that could be such a literal child at times.


	2. Visitors

_Survival of the fittest is my creed,_  
_Fighting tooth and claw to live,_  
 _But can it truly be called living?_

All things considered, being one of Murder’s caretakers wasn’t that bad of a gig. Sure, Rowan still had to help with other enclosures, but the raptor took priority. It also meant that when lunchtime came around, he was able to fuck off with the claim of needing to help out with the lunchtime feeding. This allowed him to not only have a long lunch break, but continue with bringing Murder treats. While the hybrid could be an absolute shithead and usually managed to steal his hat, the freak had started seriously warming up to him.

Murder had even gone so far as to give Rowan his own call: two rapid barks with the second ending in a trill. When he’d mentioned this to Owen, the raptor trainer had been pleased. However, he was still troubled at Rowan’s inability to touch Murder’s head since being allowed to do so was apparently a sign of trust. Initially, Rowan hadn’t been too bothered about the lack of trust. As he thought it over, he started changing his mind. He was one of the few people who knew what Murder was, barring the ACU guys and the people who’d given him the contract. Rowan still didn’t know what to do about them and at this point there wasn’t much he _could_ do.

After considering things for a while, Rowan decided to question Owen about raptor behavior while they watched the freak eat dinner one night. He figured that it might give him a leg up on continuing to earn Murder’s trust.

“So that call Alpha does when he sees me…You said it’s a good thing. Why, exactly?”

“Raptors have individual calls for pack members. It lets them communicate when they can’t see each other. Since he has a call for you, it means he considers you part of his pack. In theory, anyway. It might just be a greeting since the jury’s still out on if Utah’s were pack animals.” Owen shrugged slightly, “There’s no evidence for it or against it.”

“Alright, yeah, that makes sense. How’s that play into the whole…Head touching thing? If he thinks I’m a pack member, doesn’t that mean he trusts me?” Despite how annoying Owen could be at times, Rowan wasn’t going to deny that he knew his shit about raptors.

“Yes and no. Individual calls are similar to human names. While head touching is sort of a dominance thing, I think. Blue won’t let anyone touch her head except me, but she’ll touch Delta, Echo, and Charlie’s heads, for example. So…Putting it all together? Alpha considers you part of the pack, but lower ranked than him. There’s some exceptions. If a raptor is wanting reassurance or is apologizing for something, they’ll allow their head to be touched, as well. It’s one of those complex gestures I haven’t exactly figured out yet.”

Rowan slowly nodded as he considered what he’d been told for a moment. It made sense when it’d been put that way. “So, how do I get him to trust me enough to let me touch his head?”

“I don’t know if you’ll be able to. As it is, you’ve done a lot more than what I was able to do with him. I think most of it is because I smell like the girls. He’s fucking smart to the point of scaring me, but he’s still a raptor. He knows I have another ‘pack’…Both from smell and because I told him. Don’t know how much he understood, but I can’t really rule anything out with him.”

Rowan carefully kept his face neutral. Murder wasn’t ‘just a raptor’. In all actuality, he was a fucking abomination. But at the same time, Rowan couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Whatever had happened on the island, Murder hadn’t asked to be made, and he had begun to feel the need to protect the creature. There was no shortage of unscrupulous people in the world and many would just love to get their hands on Murder. Nothing good could come out of that situation. “Got any theories about him?”

There was a long silence between the question and Owen actually speaking, as if the man was carefully weighing his answers. Finally, he sighed and nodded. “I’ve seen the list of dinosaurs that was supposed to be on Sorna, and Utahraptors weren’t on it…And most of the files related to the island are still heavily classified. I had to fight to get the reports made by Muldoon opened up.” Owen let out an uncomfortable sigh. “I…Think Alpha might have been a prototype for the alterations done to the raptors here at the park. All four of them have different DNA in them for coloration, but they also picked up different traits from that DNA.”

While normally eager to talk about his raptors, Owen was unusually reserved and spoke with hushed words. “Delta’s the most obvious. Wu used bird DNA with her…Corvid, mostly. So, when she gets really curious she’ll start tilting her head, kinda how birds will do.”

Rowan looked over to Owen, “…He does that.”

“I’ve seen him do it, too. He can also cover his eyes with a third eyelid, which is another thing birds can do. None of my girls can do that…And then there’s his hands.”

“Four fingers and a thumb.” Rowan supplied.

“Exactly. Utahraptors are supposed to have three fingers, just like Velociraptors. Here’s the kicker: his DNA report says he’s just Utahraptor and frog. I think it’s BS. I saw the wild raptors on Sorna, and while he kind of acts similar…He’s way, way different.” Owen had shifted to quietly speaking so that they weren’t overheard.

“So…What are you thinking?”

“I think he was a precursor to what they did with the other raptors. Everything about his capture was hush-hush, and what little digging I’ve done has me hitting brick walls. I’m actually worried about digging too deep because it might end up bad for me.” He sighed and looked down at Alpha who had moved to lounge under a tree. “What I do know…Is that he needs to be protected. Too many weird things with him, and I already know Hoskins would love to get his grubby paws on him.”

“I agree about him being protected. Way, way too many people who’d love to do stuff to him.”

Owen nodded, “I can’t wait for his paddock to be finished. It’s still a few months out, but it’ll be a lot healthier for him than what he’s stuck in now.” Then, he sighed. “Which…Brings me to a different topic. Because of how expensive he’s been, Claire is dropping by tomorrow with some investors to view him.”

“Why the fuck are you just telling me _now_?”

“Because I only found out about it an hour ago!” Owen looked as frustrated at Rowan felt. “Kaitlyn called and told me. She said she tried to talk Claire out of it, but didn’t have any luck.”

“Do we at least have a time?”

Owen shook his head, “Sometime before lunch, that’s all I know. To make matters worse? She wants me to show off his training.”

This news caused Rowan to tilt his head back with a groan. Murder only listened if he wanted to, and that tended to be because he was being bribed. “And you’re worried he’s going to be an asshole about the whole thing.”

“Yup. I’m hoping I can play off any shit he pulls as him not liking crowds…But at the same time, they want to put him on display…”

“And a dinosaur who freaks out when there’s people around isn’t one who’s going to draw in a crowd, which means they might be losing money on this particular investment.” Rowan finished for him.

“Exactly. The only thing I can think of is explaining that he’s still adjusting and he’s getting better. It’d be better for him anyway if they initially limit how many guests can enter the exhibit at a time. He doesn’t seem to like change. The big issue is going to be convincing them of that. They’re used to dinosaurs who’re hand raised from birth and have been around humans their entire lives…Not something wild born.”

“Why not have me act as the trainer?” Rowan pushed himself away from the railing where he’d been leaning against it.

“Because your role hasn’t exactly been changed. Kaitlyn’s been pushing for you to be ‘officially’ listed as my apprentice, but the higher ups have been digging their heels in about it.”

“So, the usual bureaucratic bullshit.” Rowan muttered and was given a noise of agreement by Owen.

Once Owen left, Rowan headed down to the shelter to explain what was happening to Murder. Unsurprisingly, the hybrid wasn’t too enthused with the idea and Rowan had no idea if things were going to go smoothly or not. Knowing Murder? It was going to be a fucking nightmare. He attempted bribery with the promise of pizza, but he wasn’t given any indication of agreement.

The next morning, Murder patiently waited. Already, there was an unusually high amount of security around the pen. This gave him a sense of apprehension, but at least this time he knew what was going to happen. That was something he liked about Rowan: the man let him know what was going to happen. Owen had tried to do the same, but it had always been a bit of a hit or a miss. When he heard the sound of the door up on the catwalk opening, he shifted his attention towards it and tilted his head to the side. Likely, things were about to start. Leading the way was Owen, followed by a red headed woman in a crisp, light blue business dress. Behind her were several men in suits and women in similar dress. At the rear was Rowan carrying a bucket.

“He seems healthier than the last pictures I saw of him.” The woman remarked to Owen who seemed vaguely unhappy about the situation.

“Alpha had a lot of health issues when he arrived.”

“But he’s healthy now?” She stepped to the railing to peer down into the pen, which prompted Murder to make a sharp warning bark.

Owen gently pulled her away from the railing, but eyed the other people. “He doesn’t like being stared at, Claire. He’s still skittish around people. We’ve been slowly adding more people around the pen, but this is more than what he’s used to.”

Claire frowned, “But he’ll be acclimated once the paddock is finished?”

“Hopefully, but I think that a limited amount of people should be allowed in per day to start with. Divide it up into groups. Once he gets used to it, then the exhibit can be fully opened.”

“What about his training?”

This question caused Owen to cringe slightly, “It’s progressing slowly. With his health issues, I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of working with him. Alpha was only recently cleared for training and while he knows a handful of commands, he doesn’t always respond to them.”

Murder took a step backwards towards the undergrowth. Owen couldn’t really try to make him do anything if he was ‘hiding’.

“I’d like a demonstration of what he knows, Owen.” Claire stated and was promptly backed up by sounds of agreement by the board members behind her.

Owen hesitated for a moment before he gestured Rowan over. He took a rat out of the bucket and briefly held it up. “I don’t know how well he’ll respond with all the activity.”

Murder made another sharp warning bark. He wasn’t about to listen, not when Owen insisted on using that idiotic clicker; he wasn’t a fucking dog. So, when he was given the command to ‘come here’, he hissed and turned around so he could start walking for the undergrowth.

A sharp whistle sounded from behind him, prompting him to pause and look towards it. Rowan had grabbed the bucket and was holding up a rat. “Alpha! Follow me!”

Then, he started jogging along the catwalk. Personally, Murder wasn’t keen on doing what he was told, but then again, Rowan _had_ promised his choice of junk food. Finally, he made a low grumble and lazily trotted after the man. When Rowan stopped and Murder had turned to face him, the rat was tossed down.

“Up.” Rowan held the next rat up, and Murder barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes as he stretched up tall. Once more, he was tossed the rat. This was beyond demeaning.

“Alpha, backup.”

Murder ignored him and instead just tilted his head to the side. He was done putting on a show; they’d gotten more out of him than he had wanted.

Rowan dropped the rat back into the bucket, “Still working on that one. Sometimes he does it, sometimes he doesn’t.”

Claire looked to Owen and seemed unimpressed. “I thought you were training him, Owen.”

“I…Was. He likes Rowan better. I figure it’s because I smell like the girls, but he’s been handling Alpha’s training for a while now. Kaitlyn’s been trying to get him listed as my apprentice, but the request keeps getting denied.” Owen took the bucket back from Rowan.

“You’re still overseeing the training?”

“Yes. I lay out the plans for the day’s training and Rowan does the training. Alpha’s learned his name, up, follow me, and come here. We’re working on backup and down right now.”

Finally, Claire made a slight nod. “As long as he’s being trained. I’ll have Kaitlyn’s request granted.” Then, she turned to the board members behind her to start explaining the more detailed aspects of the paddock. At this point, Murder turned and slinked off into the undergrowth before he could be asked to do anymore tricks.

Later that evening after Murder’s dinner had been served, Rowan swung by with a personal pizza…Something Murder had frequently requested. While he savored the slice, the man on the other side of the gate was grinning like a loon.

“Owen’s kinda pissed that you made him look bad in front of Claire. Apparently, they have some ‘history’. It worked out though. I’m officially listed as your trainer and it means I have more control over what happens around the pen.” He held out another slice which Murder happily took.

“Anyway, I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow.”

After he’d finished passing the reward treat to Murder, Rowan booked it to one of the bars in order to meet up with Owen and Kaitlyn. The vet had thought it a good idea to celebrate Rowan’s promotion. When he sat down at the table, she pushed a bottle of beer towards him.

“Been hanging out with Alpha?”

He shot her a grin, “Always. He doesn’t roll his eyes when I bitch about my coworkers.”

Owen took a seat and pulled his beer closer to himself. “I’m just happy everything worked out.”

Kaitlyn made a noise of agreement behind her drink. “It could have ended badly, but since Alpha seems to like you the best, you’re the best candidate…If you’d stop doing idiotic things around him.”

“Aw, Owen been bitching about me?”

“Frequently.”

Rowan grinned at Owen, “And here I thought you considered me a pain in the ass.”

“You are one.” Owen replied as he opened another bottle. “You completely ignore the rules I’ve put down and I have no idea how Alpha hasn’t killed you yet.”

“I’m the fuckin’ raptor whisperer, bitch.” It was all an act; Rowan knew damn well that Owen’s raptors would happily shred him if he tried the same shit with them as he did with Murder.

“Whispering or not, congrats on the promotion, Rowan.” Kaitlyn chose to interrupt the two before it turned into another verbal pissing match.

Lightly, Rowan gestured at the vet with his beer bottle, “So how’d you become a vet, anyway? You looked like you’d be at a punk concert with that blue hair.”

Absently, Kaitlyn touched her hair, “Some dinosaurs see into the ultraviolet spectrum and it’s thought they see things more vividly. Since some of the dinosaurs can be vivid in color, I just dye my hair to mimic that.” Then she grinned, “At least that’s the official, scientific reason I always told my bosses. I just like the color.”

She took a bite of her nachos and then shrugged, “I grew up dinosaur obsessed, which is probably a common trend for people who went into paleo-veterinary…And I loved the biology of how things worked. So, from an early age I was interested in the veterinary field. When, the San Diego incident happened, I was twelve. It just fueled my interest in dinosaurs when I found out they existed again. I graduated highschool in 2002 and managed to get into UC Davis for my undergrad studies that same year. I was working through undergrad to get my bachelor’s in animal biology when they announced in 2004 that the vet school was adding a paleo-veterinary program.”

Both Owen and Rowan quietly listened. Kaitlyn had never really been forthcoming about her background and had often dismissed questions.

“The program was being sponsored by InGen and would result in a full ride if graduates worked at the park for ten years after graduation. I still had two years for my bachelor’s, but because of my grades, I secured a spot for when I finished undergrad in 2006. Once I had my bachelor’s I jumped into the program and graduated as a DVM specializing in prehistoric carnivores in 2010. Once I’d gone through the graduation ceremony, I packed my bags and…” She shrugged, “Here I am. We’re all supposed to work for ten years in order to have everything paid off, but I don’t think I’ll leave. I like my job.”

“Wait, wait. How old are you?” Rowan eyed Kaitlyn but then yelped when Owen kicked his leg. “What?!”

“You don’t ask a woman how old she is!”

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes and threw a chip at Owen. “I’m capable of defending my honor, thanks. I’m 33. Yes, I’m aware I barely look old enough to be out of college. I’m also married, Rowan.”

This caught Rowan off guard slightly, “But…’

“Rings are a safety hazard and are a pain when I’m scrubbing up for surgery. I’m pretty aware of you flirting.”

“…Ah. Should have said something earlier and I woulda stopped. I didn’t know.”

Kaitlyn gave a rare, shit eating grin. “I had a bet going with Owen to see if you’d finally ask me out or not. Speaking of.” She made a ‘gimmie’ gesture with her hand and the raptor trainer reluctantly pulled out his wallet and handed her a couple of bills.

Rowan just shook his head slightly, but wasn’t overly bothered. “I suppose I walked into that one.”

She flicked one of the bills at Rowan, “For being a good sport about it. This was kinda before we got to know you and thought you were a giant asshole.”

“To be fair, I am an asshole, just an idiotic one instead of a massive one.”

“I don’t know. You’ve managed more with Alpha than I have.” Owen pointed out.

“Maybe…But I think that’s just because he wants to.”


	3. Failure to Thrive

_While echoes of a memory fade,_  
_I stare at blue skies through iron bars,_  
_and wonder ‘is it worth it?’._

The skies above were blanketed with a monotonous grey, yet the clouds were too lazy to rain. They only managed a slow drizzle despite the occasional threats of rain made by the thunder that rumbled overhead. The storm had brought cooler temperatures which was a welcome respite to the normally hot and humid weather. In all intents and purposes, it was the perfect day to laze around and nap.

Instead, Murder paced his pen. He was bored and now that he was deemed healthy, the activity around the enclosure had tapered off. Kaitlyn rarely visited unless there was an issue, and Owen’s check ins became infrequent. The only one who really showed up consistently was Rowan. He found himself missing the interaction of the other two, despite how minimal it was. It honestly amazed him at how much he craved it. The years of going without had caused him to forget how much he needed to be around…Anyone, really.

Rowan’s visits during noon helped, but it was still limited and fairly one sided; it was usually Rowan bitching about things. While the man sometimes showed up during the late-night hours, this was relatively infrequent…Much to Murder’s frustration. He liked those visits. It meant they could talk, as limited as it was. His speech skills had gone down the shitter over the years and it took effort to speak in full sentences…Something that frustrated him to no end. He imagined that his skills would return to their former state if he just had a chance to practice them.

A sudden crack of thunder overhead caused him to pause and look up. The sky had darkened considerably…Not surprising since he’d been lost in his thoughts and he wasn’t sure how much time had passed. Quite rapidly, the drizzle turned into a downpour mixed with bits of hail. He shook his head and snorted as he trotted into the shelter. There, he sourly stood at the entrance a moment before he looked towards the ‘calendar’.

45 days since last Alpha incident.

So, a month plus however long before he’d attacked that one guy. Softly, he rumbled in thought. Likely, he’d been here for two months, possibly close to three. A good chunk of that was spent recovering…But now that he was healthy? He wanted to roam, he wanted to hunt. Instead, he was stuck in a tiny enclosure that didn’t allow him to run and was fed freshly killed steer. Growling, he paced a tight circle around the shelter. There was nothing to do. It was the same routine day in and day out, with no changes unless he was to be paraded around like a circus animal.

Sure, it was better than starving. He received three meals a day, had shelter, and was thoroughly looked after…But was it worth it? He’d traded freedom for ensured survival. Yet…He wasn’t happy. On the island he wasn’t healthy and usually went hungry, but he’d been happy. There were no walls, no one to tell him what to do, and no shortage of things he could do. He let out a sudden shriek of frustration and slammed the side of his head against the bars of the gate.

A sharp pain lanced up into his jaw that shifted into a throbbing ache; he tasted blood. He stood there a moment, baffled on why it felt like he’d been running. His heart pounded and his chest felt tight, while he struggled to breath. He twitched his lips and the sharp pain returned. Instinctively, he twisted his head to the side and made a quiet noise of pain. He’d likely cut up his lip with a tooth.

After a moment, he reached up and touched the tender area with a claw. A tooth shifted and he made a sharp squawk of pain as he jerked his head back. At least it was close to lunch. Sighing to himself, Murder laid down. At least the pain gave him something to focus on instead of his current situation…Not that it was much better.

By the time Rowan arrived, Murder had taken to making quiet whimpers under his breath. The ache in his jaw had shifted to a dull throbbing that made his eye water. A soft whistle caught his attention.

“Hey. What’s wrong?”

He lifted his head and tilted the injured side towards Rowan. The man’s eyes widened and he swore softly. “What the fuck happened to you?”

Moments later, he listened to Rowan rapidly explaining the situation to Kaitlyn. Murder turned his head to watch the man; he anxiously paced in front of the cage as he rubbed his thumb over his finger joint.

“No, I don’t know how he got hurt. The side of his face is swelled up and there’s blood on the shavings. I haven’t tried getting him to come to the gate yet…Well, he’s whimpering so I’m gonna fucking say he’s in pain. I didn’t get a good look at it. All I know is that he’s drooling blood...Alright. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Murder looked to Rowan as the man crouched down in front of the gate. “Hey…Kaitlyn’s on her way out. She’s gonna sedate you a bit so she can look at your mouth. I know you don’t like that happening, but it’ll probably help out with the pain anyway. Alright?”

Normally, he hated the idea of the sedative, but in this case? He didn’t exactly mind. It’d likely kill off a couple hours. So, he gave a slight nod. While he knew that an enclosure was being built for him, he didn’t know how far along it was. Rowan hadn’t mentioned it and they hadn’t been able to verbally talk in some time. He just hoped that it wouldn’t take too much longer.

When Kaitlyn arrived, she was carrying a bag and was flanked by two ACU. Immediately, Murder felt on edge and hissed, an action that caused his hiss to be cut short into a raspy croak of pain. He squinted his eyes shut for a moment, but opened them again to focus on the humans. This time, he remained silent but still glared. Rowan seemed to share his unhappiness.

“Back the fuck up. You’re upsetting him and he’s already stressed enough.”

Rowan’s orders went largely ignored until Kaitlyn gestured at the two men, causing them to take a few steps back. A few moments later, Murder felt the thump-sting of a dart in his flank. Unlike many times before, he simply laid there and allowed himself to be dragged down into unconsciousness.

Blearily, he opened his eyes; the side of his face felt vaguely numb. His stomach grumbled unhappily due to missing lunch. Sitting by the gate was Rowan who quickly moved over once he noticed Murder had woken up.

“Hey. Can you hear me?”

Murder slowly lifted his head and blinked again before he gave a slight nod. After a moment, he gingerly put his nose against the bars where Rowan gently rubbed it. He hesitated but then arched his neck to press the top of his head against the bars. While he couldn’t see the man, he could tell Rowan had paused. Then, he felt a gentle touch against the top of his head as a hand was slowly rubbed up and down.

“Shh…You’re alright. Turns out you had a loose tooth. Kaitlyn got it pulled and numbed the side of your face. So, you’ll need to be careful when you eat for the next few hours. She said it looked like you knocked your head against something, is that what happened?”

Murder slowly pulled his head away and gave a slight nod. Then he pointed his nose to the ceiling and thumped his tail.

“Uh…” Rowan paused and seemed to puzzle over the mime for a moment before his face brightened in realization. “Oh. Thunder?”

Again, Murder nodded. It wasn’t the truth, but he couldn’t exactly mime out the complex thoughts he’d been having. Then again, there was a vague discomfort over the idea of talking about how he felt; an old memory bubbled to the surface of his mind.

He was younger, much younger than the present. Something horrible had happened, a…Loss, maybe. Yes, his mom’s death, wasn’t it? Murder closed his eyes and tried to latch onto the memory. He was upset and standing in front of a man whose face was just out of his grasp. A brief flicker of the same man in the seat of a plane, impaled by a tree limb; Murder made a soft noise, but pushed the memory away.

The man wasn’t exactly angry with him, but still quite frustrated. “ _I don’t care that you don’t like Carla. We’re getting married next month._ ”

He felt the whispers of anger build in his chest, and…Betrayal? “ _But I don’t like her. I wish mom…_ ”

“ _Diane’s dead. You need to learn to accept that._ ”

“ _You’re just a dick!_ ”

Something touched his arm and he jerked to the side, unaware of the soft sounds of distress he’d been making. Next to him, Rowan looked concerned. “Murder. Hey…It’s ok.”

He looked over to the man and simply made a quiet warble; Rowan’s look of concern deepened. After a moment, the man scooched closer to the gate and poked his arm through before making a slight ‘come here’ motion.

Murder hesitated, not entirely sure what Rowan wanted but leaned over. Unexpectedly, the man curled his arm under his jaw and started lightly rubbing under his ear, then used to other hand to rub the top of his head. “It’s alright. I’m not gonna go anywhere. I know you don’t feel good.”

He sat there for a long moment, half surprised at the gesture and half concerned it was a dream brought on by the sedative. Finally, he sagged down against the bars and closed his eyes. There was no telling when such a thing would happen next and...He liked it. Honestly, it soothed his need for interaction and attention.

In the days that followed, Murder attempted to get Rowan to give him more attention than just food. He really didn’t care what it was. Scratches, his head being rubbed…It didn’t matter. He just wanted _something_. Sometimes, Rowan would get it, but most of the time he didn’t. Since the man had stopped showing up at night, he had no way of telling him; shifting to his human form at lunch was far, far too risky. He tried asking in all the different ways that he knew of, but Rowan just didn’t get it. It was frustrating and beyond depressing…But at least he still had the man’s company, right?

On day 60 of the little calendar, Rowan didn’t show up at lunch. Murder patiently waited until the steer was delivered, only then did he leave the shelter to eat. Perhaps the man had simply gotten busy. He’d mentioned occasionally having to work at other pens. Maybe he’d visit tonight.

Rowan didn’t.

It was surprisingly upsetting, but then again, Murder didn’t like change. Change always brought bad things. He wandered the pen, making quiet warbles that faded off. Every so often, he’d make Rowan’s Call; Owen and Kaitlyn both knew about the call. Maybe they’d inform Rowan about it…But nothing happened.

He was alone again, wasn’t he? The only constant was the ACUs that would show up shortly before meals. But still no Rowan. It…Surprised him, a bit, on how dependent he’d become on the man. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised; raptors were pack animals after all and he’d been alone for so, so long.

By what he assumed was the eighth day of Rowan being gone, he stopped feeling all that hungry. He picked at his food, but just enough to sooth the edges of his hunger. Otherwise, he left the steer mostly intact. He started pacing for a good portion of the night, just alone with his compulsive thoughts. It was better than trying to sleep. No matter how much he tried, they invaded his thoughts and took over.

Rather than escaping hell, he’d simply jumped into another. Sorna had been the hell of starvation. This pen though…This damned pen was the hell of being subjected to everyone else’s whims. He felt…Helpless. It was a feeling foreign to him and something he’d only experienced a handful of times. There was no way to express his wants or desires without risking his safety.

And no one cared what he wanted. No one cared that he had nothing to do except eat, sleep, and walk and walk and walk. No one cared that he was alone except for an hour of minimal contact each day…Or when they saw fit to poke and prod him. He was just another thing, as far as they were considered, to be trained and paraded around.

Sure, they didn’t know what he was, but Rowan did…And yet he did nothing. From what Murder had gathered, InGen had forced him into working at the park. The man didn’t want to be here, and likely, the attempts at being friendly were only to keep himself alive. Had he finally worked through his contract and left? Murder slumped against the wall of the enclosure. Why hadn’t he said anything? Then again, if everything he’d done was to be placating, then he wouldn’t have really cared…Now would he?

His breathing became stuttered inhale and a coughed-out exhale.  It wasn’t something he’d ever done before, but it made him feel somewhat better. Finally, he rubbed the side of his head against his flank with a quiet whimper. The planned enclosure was supposed to be better than what he was in…But how long until it was done?

At ten days, he lost count. Days had begun to bleed into each other and he had just about convinced himself that Rowan had left. Each evening, he paced the pen. It was mind-numbingly monotonous, but it passed the time. Though one evening, he drifted too close to the metal support column of the catwalk and bumped his shoulder. It jarred him out of his thoughts. He remembered quite well how it had ripped open his flank.

But he stood there, thinking. Yesterday, Kaitlyn had arrived to investigate his refusal to eat, but had deemed it a result of the heatwave. The last time anyone had arrived at the pen was when he’d knocked his tooth loose. Lightly, he ran his hand down the column, feeling where the metal picked at his skin. He’d never been the sort to entertain the idea, even after Michael’s death. But at the same time, he remembered very clearly on how the pain of his tooth had cleared his mind. More importantly, it’d brought people and the interaction he so craved.

Yet, with it being late at night, no one would know till morning. He tapped a claw against the metal and listened to it reverberate. There was also the fact that it would give him something new to do…At least until he couldn’t stand it anymore. It was a dangerous idea, considering his high pain tolerance. He dropped his hand down, then suddenly and violently shoved his shoulder against the column. They really should have fixed that sharp spot when he’d injured himself the last time.

The pain radiated across his shoulder, back, and down his upper arm. Immediately, he scented blood and felt the ticklish sensation of it dripping down his arm before he heard it softly pattering against the ground. He stood there, the thoughts that had churned through his mind had quieted for the moment, though a quiet one in the back of his head softly hoped he’d cut something vital.

That wasn’t him, and he knew it. He was a fighter and had survived so much, but…Even fighters could get tired. Murder shook his head, as if the action would rid his mind of the thoughts. Trying to sleep would be a good idea. His mind was a jumble of thoughts and he wasn’t sure which way was up. This was the longest that he’d spent as a raptor and he worried that he was losing himself again.

The next morning, he was woken by Kaitlyn and, surprisingly, Rowan. Neither looked very happy. Murder clambered to his feet and made a quiet noise at the pain in his shoulder. Right…He’d done that last night.

“Man…I go for a two-week vacation and you go and get yourself hurt.”

This made him glare at Rowan. He’d gone on vacation and hadn’t bothered to mention anything? It made Murder feel bitter and only confirmed the idea that Rowan didn’t care. Angrily, he barked at the man before stalking out of the shelter.

“Hey, Alpha. Come on, man…Don’t do that.”

“I think he’s mad at you, Rowan.”

“No shit.”

It was no surprise that he ended up being tranqed in order for his shoulder to be stitched up. Murder pulled the stitches out that night and shoved his shoulder against one of the trees after he’d paced the pen for a while. His anger had simmered down to a toxic combination of betrayal and depression, leaving him feeling numb. The pain had shifted from something to yield attention to something to help him drown out the other emotions he felt.

Humans were complex things, prone to thinking and overthinking. He was no exception, despite wearing the skin of a raptor and sometimes, he wondered if life would be easier if he simply gave up on being human. It’d save him all the pain of human emotions, wouldn’t it?

Kaitlyn looked up when Rowan and Owen walked into the breakroom. Rather than greeting them, she simply blurted it out. “Something’s wrong with Alpha. He’s losing weight and he’s injuring himself, somehow.”

“What the fuck happened when I was gone?” Rowan sat down in a chair and glanced between the two.

“Anytime I checked in on him, he seemed fine.” Owen replied. “He called for you a few times, but that was it.”

“He’s been off food for a week. Since he started when the heatwave kicked in, I figured it was related to that…But now that it’s over, he’s still not eating.”

“Do you think it’s related to me leaving?” Rowan asked, quietly. “After he had his mouth surgery, he let me rub his head.”

Owen glanced over to Rowan, but grimaced. “Might be. He thinks you’re part of his pack. Since you took off, he might have thought something happened to you and started stressing himself.”

Rowan sighed and rubbed his face. There had been mention of another hybrid during the briefing and it made him wonder if by capturing Murder, something had been broken up. He’d been meaning to drop by in the late evenings to talk to the guy but…By the end of the day, he was usually too exhausted.

“Well, we need to figure out how he’s hurting himself so we can fix it.” Kaitlyn noted. “He keeps pulling his stitches out and at this rate, he’s going to get an infection. To make matters worse, I think he’s starting on the other shoulder.”

“Ok…Uh, I think I should be able to get some stuff for us to camp out on the catwalk and watch him tonight.” Owen glanced at his watch. “I’ll just have to make some calls.”

“I’ll see if I can buddy up to him again.”

With a rough plan in place, the three dispersed with Rowan heading to the shelter. There, he tried to get Murder’s attention. However, instead of walking towards him, Murder simply got up and walked away. He stared at the spot where the raptor had been moments earlier and felt his heart sink.

“…Ah, fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Care of a Raptor takes place directly after this chapter.


	4. Starting Over

_I never claimed to be a saint,_   
_I won’t deny being a sinner,_   
_but I willingly marched into hell._

By the time the first episode of the show had ended, Murder felt sleepy. Quietly, he yawned and ignored the slight flinch from Rowan. Considering the size of his teeth, he couldn’t exactly blame the man. Still, he felt conflicted. While he enjoyed the company, he wasn’t sure if it was because Rowan actually cared, or if it was simply to prevent him from harming himself.

Rowan made an uncomfortable sigh, “Murder…Did you start hurting yourself because I left for two weeks?”

Murder hesitated on his answer and glanced away for a moment before he finally looked back to Rowan. He nodded and made an uncertain noise since he was unsure on how the man would react.

Rowan closed his eyes and sighed. “Dammit, I thought so. I…Yeah, they sort of sprung it on me and barely gave me time to pack up a bag. Because of my…Contract, I pretty much have to have a handler if I go off the island. It was either leave right then and there, or not get to go at all. So, I didn’t have time to head out here to let you know. I’m sorry, I really am.”

This news caused Murder’s shoulders to slump slightly. In short, he’d ended up overreacting over basically nothing. Rowan hadn’t exactly left, he simply hadn’t had much choice in the matter. He looked back over when his neck was lightly touched.

“I mean it, Murder. I’m sorry. I’m…Supposed to be the main person that takes care of you, and I haven’t really been doing a good job. I know fuck all about dinosaurs.” He shrugged, helplessly. “All I really know is dumb shit I’ve looked up and that you eat meat…And occasionally people. I didn’t know how bad things were for you and…And you ended up paying for it. I’m working on trying to find things for you to do, and I plan on spending more time with you. I mean it.”

Honestly, a part of him didn’t really want to believe Rowan, but at the same time…The man had kept his promises so far, and he had a pretty good reason for not mentioning the vacation. Finally, Murder made a soft rumble and nodded before he leaned over to gently nudge the side of Rowan’s head with his nose.

Rowan flinched at this action and then sighed at the head tilt he was given. “Sorry. I can’t help it. You have really, really big teeth and I’ve seen what you can do with them. Uh…Did you like the show? I can start over from the first episode, if you want.”

Murder nodded, but then yawned again. This time, it wasn’t because he needed to, but to hopefully explain that he was tired and wanted to sleep.

“I gotcha. We can pick up the show later. Get some rest, Murder.”

The sound of giggling woke him up. Blearily, Murder opened his eyes and slowly looked around. Rowan was still leaning against him, but had slumped over so that he used his neck as a pillow. Kaitlyn stood at the gate looking highly amused while a concerned Owen stood behind her. Murder yawned before slowly raising his head; Rowan fell over, yelped in surprise, and then sat up. He rubbed the side of his face as he looked towards the two others.

“What’s so funny, Kaitlyn?”

“Just you slumped over Alpha. Since you’re in there, how’s his shoulders?” Kaitlyn moved slightly closer to the bars.

Rowan stretched and turned around slightly in order to look over the injuries. “They look alright. Not seeing anything that might be infection” He hesitated before very gently touching around the edge of the scabs. When the raptor pulled away slightly, he murmured an apology.

“A little bit of warmth to them and they seem tender…But with how he keeps picking at them?” He shrugged.

“Need to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t get infected. I’d prefer them to be stitched, but if he keeps pulling them out, then it’s just extra damage and delays his healing.” Finally, she sighed and focused on Rowan. “It’s good he didn’t maim you overnight, but you should probably get out before he changes his mind.”

“I think I’ll be fine.”

“Rowan, don’t be an idiot.” Owen kept his voice carefully controlled. He honestly had no idea how to express to the man on how dangerous it was to be in the pen with Alpha.

Rowan shifted his attention to Murder and held his hand out, palm down. Murder eyed the hand for a moment before lightly bumping it with his snout and then pressed the top of his head against it. A second later, the man started rubbing his head.

“I…Think he considers you an equal.” Owen remarked, sounding surprised.

“Or something.” Rowan agreed and dropped his hand once the raptor pulled his head away.

After a moment, Kaitlyn held a tube of medicine through the bars of the gate and a latex glove. “Put this on his injuries, if you can. It’s a combination topical antibiotic, pain reliever, and skin protectant.”

Rowan eased up away from Murder and took the items from the vet before he settled back down. Once he had the glove on, he worked on applying the medicine. At least till the raptor turned his head and started using him to rub the side of his head. Rowan squawked in protest and tried to shove Murder’s head away. “Stoppit you fucking lizard!”

Murder only yawned and stretched his leg out, which ended with his toe curling forward. He took a bit of sadistic pleasure in how everyone just seemed to freeze until he relaxed again. Beside him, Rowan let out a soft sigh and continued applying the medicine. Outside was the mechanical sound of his breakfast being lowered. Slowly, he started shifting around to gather his legs under himself and once Rowan had scuttled away, he stood up. After regarding the three humans for a moment, he lumbered out of the shelter to go eat.

Rowan sighed and pulled off the glove before briefly bending over to grab his tablet. Once he had it in hand, he turned to face the other two with a slight grin. “Well, that went well.”

“…Oh my God. You’re planning on making this a common thing.” Kaitlyn stared at him, her expression a mixture of shock and disbelief.

“Yup!”

“Rowan, you’re going to get your–“

Rowan cut Owen off. “Blah blah blah. Who cares? It’s not like _you’re_ innocent of doing dumb things, either, Owen.”

Owen made a brief scowl, but ultimately knew that Rowan was correct. Alpha sat at a much higher level of intelligence than any other dinosaur in the park. He blatantly understood human speech, could follow complex orders if he wanted to, could problem solve complex issues, use tools, and likely a myriad of other things. It unfortunately made a lot of sense that his aggression levels would be different than the typical raptor. With the exception of the ACU, Hoskins, and Jacob, Alpha hadn’t exactly shown aggression. Even then, all of the instances had been warranted, except for Jacob. He still wasn’t sure what that was about.

Rowan peeked out of the shelter for a moment before he returned to the gate. “He’s eating, so…”

Kaitlyn leaned over and hit the button to open the inner gate, then hit it again to close it once Rowan had ducked out of the shelter. “So how did things go last night, anyway?”

“Not too bad. He was kinda interested in the ipad, but he dozed off pretty quickly. I didn’t want to leave because I was worried I’d wake him up. Plus…I think he stressed himself out because I went on vacation.”

“That’s actually not too uncommon with great apes. There’s a number of stories of them acting up because their favorite handler left for a while and then when the person returned, gave them the cold shoulder.” Kaitlyn mused.

“He did that to me…Up until last night, anyway.” Rowan sighed. “I’m not sure if he’s forgiven me or not. I mean, the whole head touching thing is a good sign, according to Owen…But I kinda feel like I need to start over a bit.”

“I don’t know. Once he settles a bit, he might go back to how things were.” Owen commented, “But that’s just based off of what my girls did. I hate to keep comparing him to them because he’s so obviously different, but that’s the only reference point we have.”

“Learning as we go.” Kaitlyn gathered up her things. “I need to go make rounds, and I imagine Rowan’s hungry.”

“Damn fucking right I am.”

At lunch time, Rowan returned to the pen bearing a peace offering. Thankfully, Murder was in the shelter. He sat down next to the gate and passed a chunk of chicken through. “I’ve been thinking about stuff to make the pen less boring. You remember when the hurricane hit and how we have to shove in live steer?”

Murder nodded. He’d enjoyed that greatly since it meant he could hunt. Sort of. While he hadn’t been chasing something down over a massive field, it was a lot more entertaining than eating something already dead.

“You really seemed to like that. I can see about talking Kaitlyn into having the workers deliver live ones instead of freshly killed, if you want.”

Murder rapidly nodded his head. It wasn’t anything like what had been on the island, but it was a start.

“I’ll also try to visit more…Just…Don’t eat me. That’s the main concern everyone has. Which means I’ll be able to help Kaitlyn with your physicals, vaccines, and all that sort of stuff…And you’ll get tranqed a lot less. I know that’s something you hate.”

Softly, Murder warbled and side eyed Rowan. Why was he being friendly all of a sudden? This was completely different than what the man usually behaved.

Rowan looked down and picked at his lunch. “I did some talking with Own and Kaitlyn. When I was on the island, we encountered only one dinosaur when the intel claimed there was supposed to be a ton. Turns out, InGen was capturing dinosaurs off Sorna for the park. Except for a small handful, there’s basically nothing there anymore. What’s left is too small to sustain the population. Considering the state you were in when you were brought in?” He sighed, “If you go back, you’ll starve to death. So…I kinda feel responsible for making sure you’re happy since I was a major player in you getting caught.”

Murder huffed out a sigh, but then nodded. It was something he’d suspected for quite some time, but this only confirmed his thoughts. Perhaps things would start getting better. When another piece of chicken was offered to him, he gingerly took it from Rowan and quietly savored the flavor.

“I’ll ty to visit more at night. Since this is really the only pen I have now, I have a bit more free time unless Kaitlyn wants me to do something. Figure we could hang out and watch Netflix…If you want?” Honestly, Rowan had no idea what Murder really needed. The guy was completely different than anything he’d ever been around. It was also pretty clear that the briefing file had omitted a great deal of information.

It didn’t take any amount of time for Murder to agree to that idea. He’d enjoyed the show, despite being completely lost on what was going on and who the characters were. Quickly, he nodded, prompting a grin from Rowan.

“Aight. Cool. I’ll get the idea about meal time passed on to Kaitlyn.”

Murder glanced at the shelter exit at the sound of the steer being lowered. He looked back to Rowan and made a quiet rumble before he got up to go eat lunch. This left the man in question to fire off a quick text to Kaitlyn. He’d quickly learned that the vet preferred texts over phone calls due to how busy she usually was. A short while later, he received a text agreeing with his request and confirming the order had been relayed to the pen workers; dinner would be live.

So, when the evening feeding time rolled around, Rowan went to the pen and decided to hang out on the catwalks. He’d seen a couple of the feeding sessions, but always had things to do so he hadn’t been able to really stay for the full thing. Below, Murder was lounged out in the mud pit. Normally, Rowan would have been concerned, but it seemed the raptor was making sure his shoulders stayed out of the mud. All things considered, he tended to be damned clean about his habits.

The steer that was being lowered into the pen bellowed in fear and flailed its legs helplessly. Rowan leaned against the railing and quietly watched Murder who’d stood up. Once the straps had been loosened and the steer freed, the lift withdrew leaving the bewildered animal to look around.

Murder stood up straight for a moment before he turned and darted into the undergrowth, barely causing the greenery to rustle. He crept closer and twitched his upper lip. This was hardly a hunt; the animal was sedate and dumb…But it was the only thing he’d get. He froze mid-step and twitched his toe claw, but then sighed as he lowered his foot. Likely, the dumb animal would just stare at him stupidly if he walked out in front of it. Finally, he charged out of the undergrowth and simply slammed his head against the steer. It bellowed in panic as it tumbled across the ground. Before it had a chance to get up, he pounced on top of it and started ripping into it.

“Well, you’re right. He does seem happier getting to hunt.” Kaitlyn remarked from beside Rowan.

“It’s no where close to what he got to do on Sorna…But it’s some type of mental stimulation. If we can keep him from being bored…” He looked over at her. “Maybe he’ll stop hurting himself.”

“We’ll see. I looked into your comment of how it’s similar to how bored, unstimulated parrots will pluck their feathers. Not all of them can be rehabilitated and just keep plucking themselves…But if we caught him early enough…” She looked towards Alpha who was rooting around in the guts of the steer.

“I think we did. It’s just…He’s easily stressed and doesn’t do well with change, I think. Which means when he gets put into the new enclosure it’s going to be hell.”

“That’s too far into the future to even think about. It’s going to be several months before it’s done. Right now, we need to focus on keeping him happy and healthy.” Kaitlyn made a quiet sigh. “Just…Don’t do anything stupid, Rowan. I know he’s something different entirely and…I really think he has human level intelligence. But he’s unpredictable and crafty. I can’t really stop you from doing anything stupid, but…Just be careful, alright?”

“I think _because_ he’s so smart is why I’ll be fine. I’m not going to go out of my way to be an idiot, though.” Rowan kept his face neutral. What Kaitlyn and Owen didn’t know wasn’t going to hurt them.

Kaitlyn gave him an unconvinced look but finally left after a few minutes of watching Alpha eat. This left Rowan alone with the ACU guys. Much like Murder, he had a healthy distaste of them, but for completely different reasons. He finally headed back into the building and waited for the ACU to leave. If they saw him in the pen with Murder, they’d likely try to shoot the raptor…Something he wanted to avoid.

Once he was certain they had left, he unlocked the employee access door and stepped into the pen. He scanned the catwalk and sighed in relief when he saw it was empty. Rowan locked the door behind him and damn near jumped out of his skin when he heard Murder quietly clicking beside him.

“Christ! How do you do that?” He stared up at the hybrid who simply tilted his head. “…Anyway. Dinner good?”

Murder nodded his head and moved past Rowan towards the shelter. While Rowan knew quite well on how big the hybrid was, it was still pretty intimidating. He finally sighed and followed after him. Once Murder was settled in the shelter, he sat down next to him and turned on his tablet. “We can start from episode one. You were probably pretty damn confused last night. The plot makes zero sense if you jump into the middle of it.”

Softly, Murder rumbled in agreement as he curled his head around to watch the screen. It was hard to focus on with just one eye, but it worked good enough. Quietly, he wondered about all the cartoons he watched as a kid, and the different movies. Did any of those movies ever get sequels? Maybe he’d find out later. Sometime after the third episode, Murder dozed off.

The sensation of Rowan getting up was what woke him up, but it was the sound of Kaitlyn speaking that caused him to open his eyes.

“When I told you not to do anything stupid, spending the night in Alpha’s pen while snuggling up to him counts.”

“He makes a nice pillow and he doesn’t get chatty in the middle of my binge watching.” Rowan shot the vet a charming smile, but was met with an exasperated eye roll. Behind him, the raptor pushed himself up to his feet and stretched. He glanced over his shoulder and lightly patted Murder’s neck. “Rise and shine lizard face.”

Murder simply shook himself in response and yawned before turning to get a drink. This meant that Rowan had to duck the tail that nearly knocked him over. “…Asshole.”

Kaitlyn snorted loudly. “Do me a favor and see if you can check his mouth where I had to pull his tooth. I thought I saw something coming in when he yawned.”

“…I really, really don’t want to be poking around his mouth.”

“…Rowan, you hand feed him every day.”

“…Point…” He glanced to Murder for a moment. Once the hybrid finished drinking, he carefully ran his hand up Murder’s neck towards his mouth. “Open up and lemme see those pearly whites.”

Carefully, he pulled down Murder’s lower lip on the side of his mouth. “…Don’t try to eat my face, either.”

Murder huffed, but allowed Rowan to examine his mouth. While he wasn’t really a fan of it, he did recognize the benefit: he wouldn’t get tranqed. Still, he finally got tired of it and pulled his head away from the man with a quiet rumble.

“It looked like he’s got another tooth coming in.”

“Good. I was worried he was going to be missing a tooth. How’s his shoulders look?” Since she wasn’t able to go into the pen and do an examination, this was the next best thing.

Rowan rolled his eyes but turned to lightly poke at Murder’s shoulders. “They look fine, I don’t think…” He was abruptly cut off by the raptor sneezing loudly, then he made a sound of disgust when he was used as a walking snot rag.

Even Kaitlyn seemed a bit grossed out. “Well, better you than me.”

Murder shook his head and snorted before wandering out of the shelter. Briefly, he paused to sneeze again, then he continued to where his food was usually delivered in order to wait on breakfast.

“I hope he’s not coming down with anything.” Kaitlyn frowned. Alpha hadn’t gotten all of his vaccinations just yet. He still had a couple booster shots to go.

“Nah. Probably got some shavings or something in his nose.”


	5. Forward unto Dawn

_At the edge I stand,_   
_The void sings to me,_   
_Do I step over or turn away?_

Four days later, and Murder still had a sneeze. What had started out as a clear, liquidy mucus had steadily changed to something cloudy, thick, and sticky. It was hard to breath out of his nose, now. He sneezed and made a quiet groan at how his left ear suddenly blocked up, prompting him to yawn repeatedly to try and pop it. His ear crackled slightly, but the pressure didn’t go away. The heat wasn’t helping, either. Rowan and Kaitlyn both expressed concern, but he just wanted to be left alone. Which was why he’d taken to hiding in the undergrowth.

By evening, he was coughing. The sound was harsh and wet; it left his chest and stomach hurting when he finally finished. He felt hot and the idea of wallowing in the mud sounded appealing, but the mere idea of getting up sounded exhausting. Something touched his neck and he blearily opened an eye. It took a few blinks for Rowan’s face to come into view.

“I found him. He’s in the northwest corner. His eye is all gunked up and his third eyelid is showing.” Rowan released the button on the walky-talky and ran a hand down the back of Murder’s neck. “Come on…You need to get up and get to the shelter. It’s a lot cooler in there.”

Murder just rumbled and closed his eye again. This immediately made Rowan feel on edge and he shoved the raptor’s side. “Come on, man. You’re sick. Get up. I’m not gonna leave you alone till you do.”

The shoving just made him groan, but he finally dragged himself up to his feet. Every part of him felt heavy and the movement caused his muscles to ache. Beside him, Rowan praised and tried to coax him towards the shelter with promises of cooler temperatures. Slowly and sluggishly, he walked after the man. One foot in front of the other.

When he finally reached the shelter, he slumped down with a moan that turned into a harsh coughing fit and left him gasping for air when he was finished. Beside him, Rowan rubbed the side of his neck. “It’s alright. We’ll get you taken care of.”

Kaitlyn sighed when she saw Alpha. “It looks like he might have the avian flu that’s going around the park. Might have pneumonia, too, based on his cough.”

This made Rowan give her a worried look. “That’s one of the ones that he still needed a booster on, right?”

“Unfortunately.” She hit the button to open the gate and ducked under as soon as she could. Quickly, she started an exam of Alpha, checking his eyes, taking a mucus sample from his nose, and examining his gums.

“I don’t know if his pneumonia is viral or bacterial yet…But he’s dehydrated. See those holes up there? Go into the breakroom and grab the bars out of the closet and attach them up there. You can just screw them in. I need to hang IV bags to help with his dehydration. And while you’re in there, get me a wet paper towel.” Without waiting for Rowan’s confirmation, she started work on opening up supplies to run an IV line. By the time he returned, she was on the phone with the central vet office to order supplies.

Once she was done, Rowan spoke from where he was crouched by the raptor. “Kaitlyn, let me know how I can help. Anything. I don’t care what it is.”

“It’s mostly just going to be waiting game. Right now, I have him on a peripheral IV line for fluids. It’s not the best since it means I have to use a slower drip rate, but it’s better than nothing and it’ll work for the moment. I have another vet headed out who’s going to be helping me put in a central IV line so I can run a TPN bag.” At Rowan’s confused expression, Kaitlyn explained. “Think of it as a food supplement for animals who can’t eat. It’s got all the needed nutrients. I also ordered a broad-spectrum IV antibiotic. I don’t know what’s causing his pneumonia, but it’s going to take a day or two for the culture to grow…And I don’t want to waste time. If it turns out to be viral based, I can pull the antibiotic. I also ordered other medications just to help with his overall symptoms.”

Rowan nodded and gave Murder a concerned look. “We should have done something when he first started sneezing.”

“At the time, there wasn’t much reason to. All he had was a sneeze that wasn’t getting any worse. He was still bright eyed, wasn’t in any distress, and he was eating. I think that between the stress of you being gone and the heat, it tanked his immune system. He’s had two of the three vaccinations, so he _should_ have been fine.” Kaitlyn gently started cleaning the gunk out of Alpha’s eyes with the wet paper towel.

“He looks out of it.”

“That’s my doing. I gave him a mild sedative because I don’t want him freaking out and pulling everything out.  You’ll be staying with him when I head out. If his condition changes, call me, don’t text. He’s a priority and I’ll drop everything to handle his issues, alright?” She looked over to Rowan who had an uncharacteristically worried expression.

“Yeah. Ok.” Rowan sat down next to the raptor and gently rubbed his hand over his head while trying to ignore the pitiful sounds the creature made. It was a soft warble under his breath that ended in a breathy whine. He wasn’t sure if the whine was because of the mucus build up or if Murder was actually making that noise.

When the second vet arrived, he was shooed away so they could work on getting the central line in. Rowan couldn’t help but to pace anxiously until he was allowed back. He was beyond worried about the hybrid and knew it was serious just from how Kaitlyn was acting. The normally sassy and sarcastic vet was quiet, choosing to speak in hushed tones instead of delivering a biting quip at questions.

Once the second vet had left, Rowan sat down at Murder’s head and gave Kaitlyn a worried look. “How long till we know what caused the pneumonia?”

“Probably two or three days. It’ll take time for the culture to grow. In the meantime, all we can really do is keep him stable and hydrated.”

He nodded and gave Murder another worried look. “Alright. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

“Rowan? Final thing.” She pointed at the numbers on the different bags that had been written in sharpie. “That’s when the bags are due to run out. If there’s 30 minutes left on the clock and no one’s showed up with a replacement, call the main office, ask for Rich, and cuss him out.”

Rowan couldn’t help but crack a slight smile. “Will do.”

When Kaitlyn arrived the next morning, she found Rowan curled up in the hallway. He’d grabbed the cushions off the couch, a blanket, and had apparently set up camp. She crouched down next to him and gently shook his shoulder. When he woke up, she offered him a breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee. “I figured you hadn’t left.”

Rowan sleepily sat up and took the offered food, but glanced to his left at Murder. The hybrid was still alive, but his slow breathing came out as bubbly rasps. “He’s getting worse, isn’t he?”

“I haven’t checked him over just yet.” Kaitlyn stood up and walked over to Alpha. First, she checked the IV bags, then hung another one. Next, she drew a blood sample before she began adding the IV bag she’d just hung to the mess of tubes attached to the IV. Finally, she moved to his head in order to examine him.

“What’s that?”

“His next dose of antibiotics. Took a blood sample that I’ll be running up to the vet office so I can get an idea of his lab values.” She tugged Alpha’s lower lip down and made a soft noise. “Well, his coloring still looks nice. So, that’s a good sign.”

After pulling her stethoscope from around her neck, she gently started listening at different areas of his chest and back. “Heart sounds good. Regular, strong, no skipped beats. Upper lungs are crackling, though. Probably a bit of fluid buildup.”

“How long will it take for the blood test results to be done?” Rowan moved to sit down next to Murder after Kaitlyn had stepped away.

“Two hours, maybe three.” She replied as she gathered up her things. “You can get into his file on the intranet with your ipad, right?”

Rowan nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good. As soon as his results are up, I’ll call you.”

“I don’t know that much about medical stuff, Kaitlyn. Show me any sort of firearm, and I can have that thing broken down with my eyes closed. This stuff? The lab values and whatever?” He shook his head and shrugged. “It might as well be French.”

“It’s alright, Rowan. I’ll go over it with you.” She offered him a gentle smile. “And don’t forget to look after yourself, alright? It won’t do Alpha any good if you run yourself ragged.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Rowan glanced down at the food he hadn’t touched yet. “I won’t. Thanks for the food, by the way.”

“I need to run this up to the lab. Call me if his condition changes.”

Rowan gave her a slight nod and started focusing on his food. Once she was gone, he leaned against Murder’s chest and looked towards the raptor’s head. After a moment, he bit his lower lip and reached over to lightly rub the back of Murder’s head. “Come on…You can fight through this. You survived for nearly twenty years on Sorna. You can kick the ass of some flu.”

Finally, he settled back to where he’d been sitting and worked on eating. It was hard to eat, honestly, with how his stomach was twisted up with worry. To be perfectly truthful, it was strange that he felt so concerned about Murder. He really didn’t know much about him, but at the same time…He felt so responsible for him. Maybe it had to do with how hard the guy was having it, but he just sort of refused to give up. Rowan could admire that sort of tenacity.

Three hours later, Kaitlyn called to review the lab results with him. Things were mostly normal except for the white blood count. That had spiked up, but according to the vet, not unexpected. “It looks like his serum creatinine is a little higher than his past labs, so we’ll need to keep an eye on that. It’s not high enough to worry about, right now. I’ll pull more blood tomorrow.”

Everything was hazy. He was floating in a sea of nothing. All the sounds around him were distorted, but it didn’t really matter. Even the ache in his chest didn’t bother him. Every now and then, someone’s face came into view…But he really didn’t recognize them; they were a mixture of different people in his life. All he really knew was they touched and reassured him. He was safe and that was all that mattered. He’d spent so many years fighting, a nice rest sounded nice. Softly, he sighed and allowed himself to sink down into darkness.

Two days later saw Murder steadily declining and it scared Rowan. The pneumonia had indeed been bacterial and with the particular pathogen identified, it had allowed Kaitlyn to switch to the proper antibiotic instead of something broad spectrum. Unfortunately, his white blood count still remained high and his kidneys were struggling. During the first day, Murder had been somewhat responsive, but now? It was like he was in a coma.

Kaitlyn wasn’t entirely sure if Alpha was going to come out of it; nothing she tried worked. Poor Rowan was running himself ragged and had chosen to spend all of his time with the Utahraptor. If he wasn’t sleeping, he was sitting next to Alpha, usually reading something out loud. The problem was, the man was just about running himself half to death and she was certain he hadn’t showered since the raptor got sick.

“Rowan, go home for a few hours…Take a shower and get some rest. I’ll stay with him.”

Rowan shook his head. “I’m fine, honest.”

“Go. I’ll let you know if his condition changes.” When Rowan opened his mouth to protest, she pointed at the hallway. “Go. I’m not going to repeat myself, again. He’s stable for the moment.”

“…For the moment.” Rowan commented, quietly. Finally, his shoulders slumped a bit. “Yeah, alright.”

Realistically, he knew the vet was right. For the past three days, he’d slept on a little crappy cot in the hallway. It didn’t do much towards a good night of sleep, but it ensured that any sound Murder made woke him up so he could check on the hybrid. The drive back to the employee apartments had him white knuckle clutching the steering wheel with one hand and pinching the bridge of his nose with the other.

When he reached his apartment, he grabbed fresh clothes and beelined it to the bathroom. A glance in the mirror told him exactly why Kaitlyn had insisted he head home. Dark circles under his eyes and three days of shadow made him look like he was back on tour in the Middle East instead of babysitting a sick dinosaur. He dumped his clothes on the toilet lid, then quickly shaved before he stripped and got into the shower. The hot water helped with soothing stiff muscles, but the repetitive sound of the water allowed his thoughts to wander.

Most of it was worst case scenarios. Ones where Murder didn’t make it. The hybrid was honestly right on the brink and could go either way. He was stable, but he wasn’t getting any better. It worried Rowan and he kept an ear out for his phone that set on the bathroom countertop. Thankfully, it remained silent through the shower.

Once he’d drained the hot water tank, he climbed out of the shower, dried off and got dressed. He plucked up the phone and checked it to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. No calls, no texts. Then as an afterthought, he cranked the volume up. He wanted to get woken up, even if he was dead asleep.

The evening dragged on painfully slow, but he was able to make himself a decent dinner that wasn’t greasy take out. After eating, he set his phone on the bed stand by the head of his bed and laid down to sleep. His bed was soft and comfortable, a far cry from what he’d been sleeping on these past few days. It was about nine, now, and he figured he’d take a three or four hour nap, then head back to Murder’s pen.

The sound of his phone ringing nearly caused him to jump out of his skin. He fumbled to grab it off the stand, partly to shut it up but mostly out of fear on why he was being called. “Hello?”

Rowan’s heart pounded in his chest over being woken up, but it was Kaitlyn’s tight voice on the other end of the line that caused his heart to skip a beat.

“You should come up to the pen. It’s…I think he’s dying.”

He didn’t even bother to respond, he just hung up and started yanking his clothes on. Four minutes later, he was out the door and running for where his truck was parked. Two minutes later, he was backing out of the parking spot; he turned off the radio and stared at the road in front of him as he drove. Five minutes later he was out of the park and into the restricted zone where he floored it.

When he reached the pen, he only bothered to turn off the engine and left his keys in the ignition. As he ran for the building, he caught a glimpse of Owen’s bike, but the thought didn’t exactly register till he rounded the corner and saw the man standing by the gate. Much like Rowan, it was clear he’d been woken up, but his shoulders were uncharacteristically tight with tension.

Kaitlyn was crouched next to the hybrid and glanced at Rowan, a sympathetic look on her face. “He woke up, but…It’s not good.”

He walked over to her and crouched down, scared at what he might find. Murder’s breathing was a raspy, open mouthed gasp, and while his eyes were open, they were unfocused and almost glazed over. Rowan ran a hand over the hybrid’s head and ignored the sting of tears that threatened to form. “Come’on man…Don’t do this…”

“It’s…Something animals do sometimes. They start improving a bit and then they just tank. He woke up and was moving a bit, but then he went downhill.” Kaitlyn stood up and sighed as she pulled her gloves off. “I don’t think he’s aware.”

Rowan sat down and just wordlessly nodded as he rubbed the top of Murder’s head. “…At least he won’t be alone.”

“I’m just…” Owen’s voice was rough and tight as he vaguely gestured behind him. “Breakroom.”

“…Yeah.” Rowan glanced at Owen as the man walked away. He suspected the other man was as affected as he was. Owen had always compared Murder to Blue and Rowan suspected that the man had thoughts of a similar thing happening to his favored raptor.

Sighing, Rowan looked back to Murder and softly murmured an apology. He sat there for a bit until the hybrid suddenly jerked his head and made a choked gasp before kicking out with his leg, narrowing missing Rowan. Behind him, Kaitlyn yelled for Owen.

The next thing he knew, the raptor trainer was dragging him backwards and all he could do was watch Murder flail and make a gurgling noise that ended in almost a cough. He tried to fight Owen, but the man had a good grip on him as he was hauled into the breakroom. “Let me go!”

“You’ll get gutted, Rowan!” Kaitlyn exclaimed as she followed after the two.

He couldn’t breath. Had to breath. Something in his throat. Can’t breath. Hurts. Need to get up. Can’t breath. _Can’t. Breath._ A final cough managed to dislodge the phlegm and send it sliding down his tongue. He sucked in a breath and felt the rattle in his chest; where was Rowan? The man had always been beside him. His exhale was a rasp and prompted more coughing. He inhaled again, but his exhale was a shrieking scream.

There was yelling but he couldn’t make out what was being said, so he screamed again and struggled to get his legs under him. He heard running footfalls and something landing in the shavings next to him. His vision was still blurred and all he could make out was someone with dark hair. Hands frantically touched his head.

“Shh. Hey. Hey. I’m here. I’m here.” A male voice; worried, scared. Rowan.

He tried to lift his head to press it against Rowan, but only managed to slump it to the side and knock the phlegm out of his mouth. Tiredly, he made a quiet croaking noise then blinked a few times to try and clear his vision. No such luck.

Rowan softly shushed Murder and then wordlessly looked towards the two others for a moment before he finally spoke. “You sure he’s dying?”

“I…Was certain he was.” Kaitlyn slowly walked over and crouched back down to listen to Alpha’s chest. “He sounds a bit better, but still has a lot of fluid buildup.”

“He coughed that up.” Rowan pointed at the glob of mucus next to the hybrid’s mouth.

“Well, I’m not going to question it.” She stood up and looked to Alpha who was making quiet whimpers. Then, she looked to Owen. “I want you to run up to the vet office. I’m going to call some things in and I want you to grab them for me.”

Owen nodded, “Got it.”

Even as Owen was jogging away, Kaitlyn was on her cell with someone and rattled off a number of things. Most of what she said made zero sense to Rowan, but he was also focused on soothing Murder. At least, until the hybrid started coughing again. This caused him to scramble up and start pounding on Murder’s back in hope of loosening up more mucus. Not as much seemed to come up as before, but his breathing seemed slightly clearer.

Rowan sighed and sat down next to Murder’s shoulder. “You better not die, you fucking lizard…”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Rowan. He still might. It’s going to be very touch and go…But…If he can make it till morning? He might have a chance.”

“Forward unto dawn.” Rowan mused and cracked a slight smile.

“…What?” Kaitlyn sent him a confused look.

“Halo: Forward unto Dawn. It was a short mini-webseries a couple years back. Basically, bunch of cadets at this prestigious military academy are training and the academy gets attacked by aliens. They end up having to survive until dawn with the help of this supersoldier.” Rowan looked back over to Murder before he looked back to Kaitlyn. “Just made me think about that…I don’t know. I’m sleep deprived.”

When Owen returned, he was half worried that Alpha had passed. Instead, the raptor seemed to be sleeping. His breathing was shallow but consistent; Rowan was next to him and quietly talking. He handed the backpack of medications to Kaitlyn and tilted his head towards the two, questioningly.

“He’s stabilized for now…But I’m not convinced that he’s still not going to die. I’ve seen too many animals take an upward turn only to die a few hours later.” She looked down at the backpack, “But if he’s fighting, I’ll do everything I can to help him.”

She turned and walked into the shelter to start hanging fresh IV bags. Briefly, she paused when Alpha opened his eyes, but the raptor closed them again with a soft rasp. Rowan looked up at her, “Need some help?”

She just shook her head. “No, I have it. You’ll need to move here in a moment for me to give him something through his IV.”

“Aight.”

Once Murder drifted to sleep, Rowan fell silent and simply watched the darkness gradually melt away as dawn approached. Whatever Kaitlyn had given the hybrid had seemed to help; his coughing had quieted. Rowan sighed softly and looked over to the raptor where his fingers traced over a faint scar. He felt drained and exhausted, the short nap he’d taken earlier that night had done pretty much nothing in terms of rest. Finally, he squirmed over so that he was on his side. It wasn’t the worst place that he’d slept.

Rowan sleepily opened his eyes; it was late morning. Someone had covered him up with a blanket and tucked a pillow under his head. He laid there a moment before the terror of what happened the prior night hit him in full force. Rowan sat straight up and looked behind him, afraid of finding Murder dead.

Murder’s breathing was still shallow, but seemed less labored…And the hybrid’s eyes were open, watching him. Rowan gave him a slight grin and brushed a hand over his head. “...Hey there, lizard.”

“That raptor never ceases to surprise me.” Kaitlyn tiredly leaned against the wall. “I was previously dosing him based on weight…And I finally just fucking overdosed him. Figured that if I didn’t do anything that he was going to die. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t sort of thing.”

“So, he needs a higher amount of medicine?”

“Apparently. But…Since he survived till morning and seems to be better…I think he might be ok, but I won’t move him out of being high risk till he’s eating solid food and moving around. He’s been stationary for way, way too long. I want to start transitioning him back to solid food once he wakes up a bit more. The sooner he’s up on his feet, the better.”

“Just tell me what to do, Kaitlyn.”


	6. Recovery

_Through tired eyes I watch,_   
_Patience is a necessity,_   
_My freedom will roar again._

Murder spent most of the day napping, except when Kaitlyn chose to examine him, draw blood, or replace IV bags. While he didn’t feel that he was on death’s door, doing anything except breathing was more effort than he could muster. By evening, he felt decent enough to lift his head up. Still, his head wobbled and his vision was pretty unfocused. The action honestly made his stomach twist up a bit in protest, but he didn’t know if that was from how lousy he felt or the lack of food.

Rowan sat beside him and murmured quiet encouragement but cautioned him not to push himself. Truthfully, the sensation of someone being beside him wasn’t one he was used to…But it also wasn’t unwanted. He enjoyed the reassuring touches and often found himself leaning into them. It…Reminded him of another time in is life, one with a golden eyed young man with a perpetually predatory grin.

At dinner time, his stomach gurgled a bit and it didn’t help that he’d scented something meaty. With a huff, he squirmed a bit and got his legs under him. Murder had no intention of standing up, but he wanted to get himself into another position. About all he could do at this point was shift himself around to prevent his legs from falling asleep. As much as he wanted to stand up, it just wasn’t going to happen. He was still weak and most movement he made that increased his breathing had him coughing.

When Murder started one of his coughing fits, Rowan moved to the hybrid and pounded his back again. The mucus was loosening up with the help of medication, but Murder still needed to move a lot out of his lungs. Not to mention, the more he coughed up, the better he seemed to feel. Rowan figured that if he helped the hybrid get everything up, Murder would end up recovering a bit faster.

“Careful with how much you pound his back, Rowan. You might get a nasty surprise.” Kaitlyn commented from the gate. With how much attention Alpha had needed, she had just opted to leave the gate open. It wasn’t as if the raptor was going to be going anywhere and it allowed them easy access if he suddenly needed it. While it was a blatant breech of protocol, there was a bit of common sense at play in this situation.

“What are you tal–“ Rowan was abruptly cut off by the hybrid coughing up a glob of phlegm, followed by a large amount of puke…All over his shirt and lap. The smell was _horrible_ and it was all Rowan could do to not puke, himself. He gagged and scrambled away, as he started trying to strip out of his clothes before the mess sunk into his skin. Behind him, Kaitlyn cackled loudly.

It took a bit of effort and comedic dancing, but soon his clothes were on the floor in a small pile of shavings. Rowan scowled as he stood there in his boxers and unhappily looked at Murder who didn’t seem the least bit apologetic. At least he hadn’t thrown up, himself. Still, it had killed any desire he’d had for dinner, for the moment.

He carefully waded up his clothes and shoved them into a plastic bag before he stalked out of the shelter to head to his apartment to shower. There was no way that he was going to hang out while smelling like raptor puke. As he left, he still heard the vet laughing. Since Murder was stable, for the moment, Rowan chose to grab himself some dinner on his way back to the pen rather than wasting time making himself something. Normally, he would have grabbed the hybrid some sort of junk food, but since Murder wasn’t on solid food yet, Rowan decided against it.

The shelter was quiet when he arrived, Kaitlyn had finally crashed on the couch and it seemed that Murder had decided to nap again. So, Rowan simply sat down next to the raptor and started quietly eating. He picked at his food but finally leaned his head back to rest it against Murder’s side. A moment later, he swiped at tears that threatened to form. It was a combination of pent up stress and the sheer relief that the hybrid behind him was going to make it.

Rowan wasn’t sure why he’d gotten attached to the fucking freak. Maybe he felt sorry for Murder and the shit hand he’d been dealt in life. Perhaps it was because he was fumbling his way through taking care of the guy and making blind guesses at what he needed. He sighed and looked down at his fries, or maybe he was just a dumbfuck who liked doing stupid things.

Murder softly rumbled to Rowan’s left and then he ducked his head away before he could be touched by the snot covered nose. “I’ll pass on that…Just got myself clean. You look like you’re feeling better though. Think you can stomach the idea of some solid food? Kaitlyn brought up this nasty looking pureed stuff that’s supposed to be helping you get back on solid food again.”

Rowan received a soft warble in response and he figured that Murder still felt under the weather. While the skin around his eyes wasn’t sunk in anymore, he still had a bad case of eye crusties that needed to be cleaned frequently…And his third eyelid remained visible. Still, the hybrid was leagues ahead of how he looked that morning. “Can you try? Even if it’s just a bite or two. Kaitlyn’s worried about how you’ve been in one spot for so long. Something about you getting sores…But you do need to start getting up and around once you feel like you can.”

He clammed up after his unusual display of concern before he sighed and gently scratched under Murder’s chin. “I’m just happy you made it, you fucking overgrown lizard.”

Slowly, Murder closed his eyes at the scratching and allowed himself to make a soft whispered purr of contentment. While he would have preferred to make a louder noise, he also worried the action would send him into another coughing fit. He’d just managed to stop and his chest ached to the point that breathing in too deeply was miserable.

After a moment, he opened his eyes again and made a faint nod at the suggestion of food. He’d try what Kaitlyn brought up, just to see if he could stomach it. He was already tired of all the tubes connected to him and half wondered if the vet was keeping him mildly sedated. Normally, he would have hated the idea, but with how he felt? All the sleep felt welcome.

“Seriously? Great. Hang on.” Rowan scrambled up to his feet and headed into the breakroom. There, he shoved his food into the small fridge labeled ‘medication only’, then grabbed the bucket of slurry. Frankly, the stuff stunk but if it got Murder back on solids? It’d be worth it. Once he got back to the hybrid, he crouched down and opened the lid before wrinkling his nose in disgust. “This smells so bad. Hey, whoa, hang on there.”

Murder grumbled when his head was shoved away from the bucket. Despite what the man claimed, _he_ thought the contents smelled good. He wasn’t a big fan of the idea of being handfed as if he was some youngster raptor, but he also recognized that he couldn’t feed himself. So, he impatiently waited while Rowan stirred up the slurry and scooped out a small amount. The amount shoveled into his mouth was barely enough to wet his tongue and he nipped the edge of the scoop to shove it back into the bucket.

He ignored the sound of protest from Rowan, but was rewarded with a bigger scoop of food. This one actually made it down his throat and the sensation of food caused his stomach to twist up slightly. Murder wasn’t sure if it was nausea from an empty stomach or if he wasn’t quite ready for solid food, yet. He paused for a moment, despite the offer of another scoop. While he wanted more, he also didn’t want a repeat of earlier where he puked all over Rowan.

Once his stomach calmed, he nipped at the scoop and swallowed down the next gulp of food. This one didn’t cause his stomach to churn, but instead helped to soothe it. Still, he chose to wait a bit between each bite since the concern of throwing up again stayed at the front of his mind. By the time he’d finished half the bucket, he turned his mouth away from the scoop and laid his head down. The sensation of being hungry had passed and he doubted that trying to eat more food was a good idea.

While Rowan would’ve preferred to see Murder eating more, he figured the hybrid had a better idea of what he needed in terms of food. Either way, it was a lot more than what he’d eaten in the past few days. So, he just put the scoop back into the bucket and patted his back. “It’s a start.”

The sound of Kaitlyn waking up greeted Rowan when he stepped back into the breakroom. Rather than telling her what had happened, he simply held up the bucket and grinned. She sat up on the couch.

“He ate?”

“A bit, yeah. I got about half the bucket down him before he turned his head away.” Rowan placed the bucket by the wall and sat down in a chair. “So, what’s the game plan now?”

Rather than immediately replying, Kaitlyn yawned and rubbed the side of her face. “I’ll have another batch made up for him in the morning. If his mucus culture comes back negative, then I’ll discontinue his antibiotics. I’ll keep him on fluids and the TPN until he’s graduated to chunked solid food. If he can start moving around, then I’ll pull them faster.”

“Do you still think he’s critical?”

She shook her head, “No, I don’t think he’s going to die. He’s steadily trending upwards, thankfully…Going to spend the night again?”

Rowan nodded, “Seems to keep him calm. I know you’re giving him stuff but…I don’t know. He tanked when I left.”

“He likely was going to do that anyway, Rowan. It had nothing to do with you leaving. You can’t keep beating yourself up over it…Besides, without you staying around to help me, I don’t think he would have recovered.”

He finally sighed, but nodded. “I still want to stay with him, especially if we’re leaving the gate open. That way I can duck out and shut it in case he started getting up. I don’t think he will, but…”

Kaitlyn shot him a slight smirk, “You’d stay even if I told you not to…I know. Just don’t get yourself killed.”

“I think he’d prefer to lick my face than eat it.”

After Kaitlyn left, Rowan returned to Murder and explained the game plan. While he acted sleepy, it seemed the hybrid liked the idea of moving onto solid food again. He couldn’t blame him. The hybrid didn’t seem to be the type who liked being sedate and sleepy all the time.

The next morning saw Murder hungry and feeling antsy as he waited for breakfast. On the other hand, he had a goal to work towards after Rowan updated him on what Kaitlyn planned to do. He wasn’t sure how quickly he’d gain the strength to stand and start moving, but he enjoyed the idea of having fewer things attached to him. When breakfast finally _did_ arrive, he had none of the issues of the prior night and swallowed down the slurry faster than Rowan was able to shovel it into his mouth. It was a bit disappointing when he heard the scoop scrape the bottom of the bucket; he still felt hungry.

However, the sound of heels on cement caused him to peer around Rowan, curiously. Around the corner walked a woman…Who seemed familiar. Murder tried to recall her face but grasped at straws. However, it was Rowan’s scowl that caused him to hiss. Unfortunately, the action caused him a bit of a coughing fit. He grumbled under his breath and laid his head down, but kept a close eye on the two.

“Can I help you, Claire?” Rowan didn’t even bother hiding the dislike that the woman’s visit brought.

“I was informed that this particular asset is recovering from the…” She glanced at her tablet, “Avian flu that’s been going around the park.”

“He is. He’s doing a lot better and Kaitlyn thinks he’ll recover.”

“He’s turning into something very expensive.” Claire’s voice had a sharp edge to it as she observed the blatant breach of protocol.

Rowan tensed up slightly, “It isn’t his fault. His vaccinations had to be spaced out.”

She gave the open shelter gate and Rowan’s positioning a critical eye. “Care to explain why this gate’s open and why you’re right next to him without any ACU soldiers?”

“With how bad he was, we kept the gate open so we could take care of him. Figured it’d waste time if we had to wait for the gate to open each and every time.” Rowan shifted to open the bucket in such a way that the _smell_ wafted towards Claire; he hid a grin of glee at her repulsed look. “Breakfast! He doesn’t like the ACU guys and we figured he’d be too busy growling at them instead of eating.”

“Does Kaitlyn have an estimate of when he’ll be healthy again?”

“Depends on him, mostly.” Rowan snapped the lid back on the bucket and stood to ‘check’ the IV bags in an attempt to look busy. “We’re getting him back on solid food, but a lot of his care depends on lab tests.”

“Such as?”

He flicked the half empty bag of antibiotics with a finger and proceeded to parrot everything Kaitlyn had told him. “If his snot culture comes back clean, this fucker’ll get to go. She wants him to stay on his fluids and TPN bag till he’s eating solids and moving around. Thinks he’ll be off all the tubing in the next couple days.”

Instead of replying, Claire tapped something into her tablet and frowned slightly. This left Rowan standing there feeling a bit awkward until he finally cleared his throat slightly. “How’s the pen coming a long that’s being built for him?”

Claire glanced up and flipped the tablet cover closed. “The acreage has been cleared for the building, fence perimeter, and the walkways. Right now, the walls are being built since additional soil is being brought in for the building foundation.”

“Alright. Good to know it’s coming along.” Rowan replied, but rolled his eyes when Claire simply walked away. However, the peace didn’t last long with Kaitlyn showing up a few moments later. Immediately, she beelined it the IV bags and began disconnecting the one with the antibiotics in it.

“The culture clean?”

“Yup! That’s one less thing to worry about. How’d he eat?” She asked as she crouched down to finish disconnecting the tubing.

“All of it. He acted like he still wanted more, so maybe we can try something a bit more solid for lunch?” Rowan glanced at Murder who was very obviously pretending to be asleep.

“I don’t want to push him too quickly, but…If he still wanted more…” She mused for a moment before looking at her watch. “Alright. It’s 8:30 now. How about a small chunked slurry snack at 10:30 to see how he does? If that goes well, he can have that for lunch. How’s he acting?”

“…Like he usually does: demanding, pushy, and an asshole.”

“Good. It means he’s recovering. What did Claire want?” She stood up with the IV and tubing in her hands.

“Bitched about him being sick, bitched about how much it’s costing, bitched about the gate being open, bitched…”

Kaitlyn shook her head, “I get the idea. Well, don’t be too pissy towards her: she’s the one who’s keeping Hoskins far away from Alpha. So, when she comes around, at least pretend to tolerate her.”

While the news wasn’t entirely unwelcome, Rowan still wasn’t a fan of the idea of having to ‘play nice’. A soft noise from Murder caused him to sigh and reminded him just _why_ he needed to play nice. It wasn’t just about him anymore. He had someone else to look after, as weird as the idea seemed to be. “Yeah, alright. If she’s keeping Hoskins away.”

“I’ll be back a bit later with his snack.”

After the vet left, Rowan looked back over to Murder who’d opened his eyes. “Sounds like you’re getting better, lizard. Figured that you could do it. Keep it up and I’ll get you a pizza or something once you’ve been cleared.”

Murder only rumbled as he closed his eyes to nap.

True to her word, Kaitlyn arrived two hours later with another bucket of food. However, since Murder hadn’t woken up yet, Rowan chose to hold off on the food so the hybrid could rest. The vet agreed and simply worked on writing her case notes until the raptor woke.

Similar to morning, Murder eagerly ate…If it could be called that since he was mostly just opening his mouth for the food to be shoveled in. Still, when Rowan started taking too long, he managed to push himself off the ground a few inches for a handful of seconds before settled back down with a thump.

Kaitlyn laughed and grinned broadly, “He’s getting demanding again. That’s great! I’ll order the chunk slurry for lunch since he’s not showing any problems.”

“What’s in it, anyway? It smells awful.”

“It’s a combination meal replacer with chunked meat. Basically, very dense in calories. It’s to help dinosaurs get back onto food without stressing their stomach but while providing the amount of calories they need. Right now, he’s probably getting way, way more calories than he needs, but with him recovering from being sick? It’s not going to hurt him.”

“It still smells bad.” Rowan wrinkled his nose and snapped the lid back onto the bucket to hand it back to Kaitlyn.

“It’s horrible, but the carnivores seem to like it the most. We played around with different formulas and this one was the one that they went for most of the time.” She took the bucket and lightly fiddled with the plastic that covered the handle. “When he goes back on solid food, I’m going to have them kill the steer for the first few days. I just want to make sure he doesn’t overdo things.”

“He really hasn’t. Alpha just spends most of his time sleeping.”

“Oh, don’t give me that BS, Rowan. I know damn well you read to him and watch Netflix.” Kaitlyn mock scolded him, but grinned. “Probably why he’s buddied up with you, but…I know we’ve said this over and over…Just be careful around him. He’s still very wild.”

“I know…But…He’s different Kaitlyn. I don’t know how to explain it. He needs different things than Owen’s raptors and I’m trying to figure out what those things are. Except…” Rowan sighed, not entirely sure where he planned to go with his line of thinking.

“Except he can’t tell you. I know what you mean. It’s frustrating to be a vet, have a sick or injured animal, and just guess at where it hurts or how the animal feels. Life would be easier if they could just tell us.” Kaitlyn gave him a slight smile, “But if they could talk…At that point it’d be a massive ethics issue due to their intelligence. Anyway, I’ll be back at lunch.”

“…Yeah. Ethics issue…” Rowan looked over at Murder and quietly sighed.


	7. Enrichment

_Nothing more than a curiosity,_  
_They watch me with glee, a circus animal_  
_I will remind them of my power._

While Murder spent his time regaining his strength, Rowan researched. He’d never really put much thought towards the action except crude internet searches for high school papers. Now? He sorted through different animal behavior research papers after some direction from Kaitlyn. Murder needed things to do and while the nightly Netflix binges helped, it wouldn’t be enough in the long run. He needed day to day activities to prevent him from becoming bored. Murder seemed to be the type that constantly needed something to do, else he’d get bored which in turn stressed him out and the stress would cause him to injure himself. Likely, the stress had been what caused him to get sick so easily in the first place.

Rowan pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes. All the science speak in the papers made his brain go numb and his eyes cross. Still, he had a few ideas. Giving Murder live meals would probably go a long way to keeping him happy, but if Owen’s suspicions were correct, Utahraptors were likely pack animals. Ignoring that, Murder seemed to have enough human in him to draw off of that…And humans sure as hell were social creatures.

Obviously, they couldn’t give the guy a Utahraptor buddy, due to all dinosaurs in the park being female. The idea had jokingly been tossed around, and all of them agreed that ‘nature would find a way’. A male Utahraptor wouldn’t work because of dominance issues. Considering Murder’s size, he’d probably just kill the other dinosaur, anyway. All of this meant that Rowan got to be the stand-in for social interaction.

The next morning while Murder ripped into his morning steer, Rowan found Kaitlyn on the catwalks and handed the list over to her. “I found some things that might help him out. Figure his live feedings will do a lot, but he needs other things to do between meals.”

Kaitlyn took the list and scanned it. “Oh, I absolutely agree. A lot of his issues would be solved if another Utah had been found, but…” She shook her head slightly, since they’d been over that idea plenty of times. “I think he was the only one, or if there were others they died.”

“That’s what Owen said.”

“And we’ve been over the idea of why InGen can’t make other Utahs as companions…I really like the idea of having some sort of rope treat toy for him. I bet we could set up some sort of pulley system so someone can bounce the treat around.” She frowned at another idea. “A giant ball?”

“It’s more for elephants, but I found some stuff where they’d been used for big cats. I mean…He’s already proven that he’s smart and can work through simple puzzles.” Rowan shrugged slightly and glanced down at Murder for a moment when the raptor sneezed. However, when nothing happened, he looked back to Kaitlyn. “And we both know he’s different, so we gotta think outside the box with him.”

She handed the list back to him and nodded slightly, but sighed as she looked back down to Alpha. “I know he is, and I love that you’re coming up with different ideas…I’m just worried that you’re treating him like some pet instead of a dangerous apex predator. Yeah, I know he responds well to you and lets you do stuff that no one else would dream of…But I’m always worried that I’ll show up in the morning and only find parts of you.”

For a moment, Rowan seriously considered telling her the truth but he also felt the need to protect Murder. He knew InGen wanted the hybrid for some reason, and he doubted that they wanted to invite him over for coffee. “I guess I’m kinda like that vet he killed…But I honestly don’t think he’ll kill me.”

“I wish I could share your optimism, Rowan, I really do.” Finally, she sighed. “I’ll talk to the construction foreman about getting a pulley system installed for the rope treat idea. It’ll mean Alpha’ll need to be locked up in the shelter for a few hours.”

Rowan considered this issue for a moment and then shrugged. “Maybe have it installed after a meal. He pretty much always naps after he eats, so he won’t be interested in doing very much for the next hour or so.”

Slowly, she nodded. “In the evening. I know he tends to wander at night, but you’re going to end up watching Netflix with him, aren’t you?”

Being called out, again, just caused him to look away. Finally, he sighed and looked back to Kaitlyn. “I can’t help it. Owen keeps talking about how Utahraptors were probably pack animals and just look at how Alpha acted when I was gone for two weeks. If that doesn’t say that he needs some sort of day to day interaction, then I don’t know what does.”

“He’s a very strange dinosaur.” She looked back to the pen where the raptor had finished eating and wandered off to get a drink.

Rowan followed her gaze, “You have no idea…”

“Rowan, I still get the feeling that you know more about him than what you let on.” Kaitlyn looked over to the man next to her.

“Me? Nah. I’m just the village idiot when it comes to dinosaurs.” He didn’t know if telling her the truth would help Murder or simply endanger him. A large number of ethical problems surrounded the creature with each one worse than the former.

Finally, she sighed. “You’re worse than Owen, sometimes.”

After she’d left and Murder returned to the shelter, Rowan sat down next to the bars in order to explain everything out. “I’ll hang out with you when they work on the pully system since I know how you like to wander around.” He glanced over when he felt his leg being snuffled. “Yes, I’ll bring you some candy.”

It really scared Rowan to know that Murder _knew_ the different types of junk food. He could name them, describe them, request different toppings for pizzas. The guy had too much knowledge of the outside world and it made him wonder if Murder hadn’t been human at one time…Had a life off Sorna, even. If that were the case, it honest to God, scared Rowan. It meant that InGen had no issue with human experimentation. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to get a clear answer from Murder in the rare instances they’d been able to talk.

“I have an idea. Once I get a date for when they’re planning on working on the pen, I’ll see about getting you out of here for the evening. Either the day before or after, depending on when I find out. Figure we could grab a pizza or something and just…Talk.” Rowan looked over to Murder who’d tilted his head curiously. “Look. I hate the idea of you being stuck in here, and I know you hate it, too. I’m still working on a plan to get you out of here and off the island…It’s just…InGen has a tight hold on my leash and I can’t leave the island without permission. Once my contract’s up? I’m getting you outta here. Promise.”

Finally, Murder nodded. He didn’t have any other choice but to trust Rowan. While he didn’t know much about leaving Jurassic World, he doubted that it’d be easy. He’d just have to be patient about things. At least he’d have a larger area to roam, soon. Rowan had brought him pictures of the still being built pen and shown him the pen mockups. While it paled in comparison to Sorna, it’d be a great deal better than what he currently had. ‘The Utahraptor Jungle’, they’d called it. Murder didn’t really know what to think about the name, but as long as he didn’t have to be in a small pen…He didn’t care.

As it turned out, the adjustments to the pen had been slated for the next day. Murder eyed the workers as they moved equipment into the loading area and occasionally barked at them, just to watch them flinch. Still, he eventually lost interest and went to lounge in his mud wallow. He didn’t really look forward to the whole thing since he figured he’d lose some sleep over it, but the idea of getting to be outside of the pen for a bit worked as incentive to behave.

After dinner, he allowed himself to be ‘bribed’ into the shelter. Once the gate shut, he huffed and looked to Rowan who offered him a ball of caramel. Gingerly, he took it from the man before he laid down to quietly suck on it. However, he looked towards the shelter entrance at the sound of machinery. It’d end up being very annoying if he had to listen to it for several hours.

“Hey.” Rowan held up his tablet. “I downloaded a few books I figured you might like.”

Curiously, Murder scooted closer to the bars and tilted his head. Although, he didn’t really know how he’d read since watching the videos tended to be hard enough for him. He’d learned, somewhat, to manipulate the touch screen of the tablet, but it didn’t always pick up on his knuckles.

“I’ll read it to you since I couldn’t find a decent audio book. It’s called ‘Harry Potter’.” Rowan hesitated a moment before continuing. “Do you know what that is?”

Rowan, somehow, found himself unsurprised when Murder nodded. He had to have had a life off Sorna. Nothing else explained it. “Well, I found the whole series, so there’s plenty of stuff for me to read to you.”

When Kaitlyn arrived two hours later to check on Alpha, she paused at the corner at the sound of Rowan speaking. He stumbled over his words every so often, but she quickly picked up on which book he’d picked to read. Curiously, she peeked around the corner. Rowan leaned up against the bars with a pillow between his shoulder and bars as padding. Alpha had his head next to Rowan and she couldn’t tell if the raptor had his eyes closed or not. Either way, everything about the raptor’s body language said that he hadn’t been bothered by the work on the pen. Rather than interrupting, she turned and quietly walked away. As much as Rowan’s closeness to the raptor worried her, the two had clearly formed a very unusual bond. Somehow, a closer one than what Owen had managed to form with his own raptors. How, she didn’t know and it only cemented her idea that Rowan knew more about Alpha than what he claimed.

Morning rolled around and Rowan had an unpleasant wakeup by having his leg kicked by one Vic Hoskins. He glared up at the older man before glancing over at the still sleeping Murder. Carefully, he grabbed his things then climbed to his feet and hoped the raptor wouldn’t wake up; Owen had told him about the last time to two met. He didn’t bother to hide his glare. “Here for a round two of ‘Shit Your Pants’?”

“Nah. Heard the cuss got sick a few weeks ago and I wanted to see how he was doin’.” Vic glanced past Rowan at the sleeping raptor, then looked back at the man. “You’re pretty friendly with ‘em. Owen know about this?”

“Of course, he knows.” He turned slightly to watch Murder out of the corner of his eye. The toe claw on his right leg gave a lazy stretch and he saw the muscles in the raptor’s leg tense up as he started to wake. A detail Vic seemed to have missed.

“Seems he likes you a lot better than he did Owen. What sorta training are you doing with him?”

Owen had also told him about the entire ‘weaponized dinosaurs’ BS and Rowan knew Hoskins couldn’t find out about the degree of unique fucked up that Murder happened to be. “Basic commands. He’s not really the brightest thing in the world. Likes causing trouble, listens if he wants to, ignores us most of the time.”

Hoskins took a step forward, crowding into Rowan’s space and forcing him to take a step backwards. “Maybe, but I’ve heard tale of you being in his pen. He really, likes you and I think you’re holding out on us, Rowan.”

“Careful, Vic. You don’t wanna wake hm up. Remember what he did the last time you were around?” He quickly nudged Murder’s shoulder with his heel.

Murder opened his eyes and peered past Rowan’s legs at Hoskins before shoving himself up, spinning around, and lashing out with a hand. Hoskins just barely stepped out of grabbing distance and sent Rowan a look of disbelief.

“Here’s the thing, Boss Hogg.” Rowan drawled, “Alpha here is an alpha. He’s top bitch in this pen and he doesn’t tolerate anyone’s shit. Not mine, not Owen’s, and least of all, _yours_. Now, he likes me ‘cause I’m his pack, and y’know what alphas do? They protect their pack. And look’it you, swaggering in like you own the place and getting all up in my space.”

Rowan glanced up at Murder who’d drawn himself up to his full height. “I know what bullshit you’re trying to sell, Hoskins, and yeah. Owen has to tolerate it…I don’t. Lemme tell you something, Vic. Alpha here? Alpha likes the taste of human. _Really likes it._ Killed all my crew and had himself a lil feast. Lemme tell you something else. Pen wasn’t finished when they hauled him in. Y’know what that means? No cameras.” He grinned, “Y’get what I’m saying, Boss Hogg?”

“Are you threatening me?” Vic glared, but took a step back when the raptor swiped at him again.

“Me? Naw. I’m just tell you the facts, man.” He lightly fussed with his hat. “Oh, by the way. Miss Dearing is very invested in Alpha’s health and wellbeing…And information was provided to me that you’re not supposed to be around Alpha’s pen ‘cause you _apparently_ stress him out. And boy. I just happen to have her number on speed dial. So…”

Kaitlyn rounded the corner, having heard the snarls from Alpha. She glared at Hoskin’s head. “And what are you doing here?”

“Mr. Hoskins was just leaving. Weren’t’cha?” Rowan ignored the glare as the other man left. Then, he looked back up at Murder then gently scritched his chin, prompting the raptor to drop the aggressive act and snuffle his hair. “Y’did good.”

“…I’ll call Claire again.” She sighed and pulled out her phone to flip through her contacts. “It’s probably good that you were here.”

“Yeah, I don’t like it that he’s slinking around. Is it safe to release Alpha for breakfast?” Rowan stepped over to the button to open the shelter gate and hit it when he had the okay.

Once the raptor had taken off to go eat, Rowan shuffled into the breakroom to grab the food he’d stashed in the fridge. “Man, why do they stock the shitty coffee?”

“Bring your own?” Kaitlyn leaned against the doorframe before holding the phone to her ear.

Rowan opened his mouth to protest, but finally just shook his head and decided to let her talk on the phone in peace. After grabbing his food and cheap coffee, he headed up to the catwalk to watch Murder eat. Frankly, he found it strange that he’d gone from not giving a fuck about the critter to wanting to actively protect him. He really didn’t know when or how it’d happened, but he supposed that a lot of it had to do with how Murder hadn’t had any choice in the entire matter.

He’d been on Sorna for seventeen years and had a decent, if outdated view of the outside world. While Rowan had no idea on how old the guy might be…The implication of possible experimentation on children felt all too real. It really made him wonder: how much did InGen know? He sat there and watched Murder for a short while before finally leaving to go to his apartment to take a shower.

Murder’s breakfast ended up being cut short by a sharp, jabbing feeling in the back of his mouth anytime he closed his mouth. He didn’t really know the source of the pain, beyond it being a tooth. Raptor tongues lacked the flexibility of human tongues, so he couldn’t feel around. His fingers poised a similar issue with their claws. Irritated, he shook his head and snorted loudly. Drool dripped down his lower jaws from being unable to close his mouth and he wondered how long it’d take for someone to notice.

As it turned out? Several hours. When he spotted Rowan and Kaitlyn on the catwalk, he made an unhappy noise and shook his head, then tilted his head to the side with his mouth gaped open in hopes of conveying his pain. Immediately, the two started for the building access door.

“Rowan, wait.” Kaitlyn grabbed the man’s arm. “Let me call the main vet office. I can get someone down here to sedate him. You’re not going to stick your arm in his mouth!”

“It’ll be fine.” Rowan flashed her a grin and ducked under the gate, into the shelter. Despite his outward optimism, he didn’t feel as confident. At least Murder seemed more unhappy than…Well, murderous. He sharply whistled to gain the raptor’s attention and once Murder stood in front of him, Rowan gently bumped his snout with the palm of his hand. “Open up and I’ll look. Just…Don’t bite my arm off.”

Once Murder had opened his mouth, Rowan grimaced at the large number of sharp teeth. Christ, his head really _could_ fit in his mouth. He flicked on the small flashlight he had and peered around the beast’s mouth. Finally, in the far back, he finally spotted a tooth whose gums were an angry red. Rowan frowned slightly at how the tooth seemed…Deformed? Quietly, he spoke. “Looks like you’ve got a tooth that’s kinda fucked up. Gonna reach in and touch it, alright?”

He supposed the quiet grunt he got in response would work as a ‘yes’. It really didn’t do anything to help the tremble to his fingers as he carefully reached into Murder’s mouth and ran his fingertips along the gums till he reached the tooth in question. Gently, he felt around and felt a stab of sympathy at the soft noise of pain. “I think it’s a bone fragment. Lemme see if I can pull it out. If I can’t, Kaitlyn can call the vets for surgery.”

Once he got another grunt, Rowan carefully nudged at the tooth and blinked a few times when the whole thing wiggled. “It’s loose. I think I want the vets to come out.”

When he started pulling his hand out, Murder softly growled and grabbed his arm with a hand. Rowan froze. “Dude, it’s gonna hurt if I yank it out.” The growl got a bit louder and he finally sighed. “Fine. Don’t…Bite my arm off.”

Grimacing, Rowan reached back into Murder’s mouth and lightly tugged at the bone shard till it came out, bringing a lot of blood with it. He tossed it to the side and sighed as he reached back in to grab the tooth. “On three. One, two…Three.” He jerked down on the tooth and yanked his hand out. Murder made a noise of pain and shook his head, flinging bloody drool everywhere. Rowan held up the tooth. “I got it out.”

Lightly, he rubbed Murder’s snout. “Feel better?” Then, he rolled his eyes when the raptor turned and wandered away. “You’re fucking welcome!”

Behind him, Kaitlyn gave him a disapproving look, having remained silent throughout the whole thing to prevent the raptor from potentially attacking. “You could have lost your arm.”

“I didn’t though.” He showed her the bloody tooth in his hand. “In case you didn’t hear me, he had a loose tooth and a shard of bone got wedged between the tooth and his gums.”

“No wonder he was in pain. The bone was probably stabbing him every time he closed his mouth.” She observed the tooth for a moment. “If he’ll let you, check his mouth daily until he starts getting a tooth in to make sure it doesn’t get infected.

Rowan nodded, “Yeah, it was pretty tender seeming and the gum was all red looking.”

“I’m assuming he won’t be wanting to check out the treat pulley that was installed.”

“Probably not. I’ll swing by at dinner to make sure he eats and isn’t in any pain.” He offered the tooth for her to take.

“Why don’t you keep it? Isn’t often you get a tooth like that.” She pushed his hand back towards him.

“Uh, yeah. Guess you’re right.” Rowan looked down at the tooth in his hand and almost felt disgusted at the idea of keeping it. Had Murder been a regular raptor, he’d jump on the idea…But it just felt like some disgusting war trophy. Once Kaitlyn left, he wrapped the tooth up in paper towels and trashed it.

True to his word, he arrived at dinner time and watched Murder with a critical eye. While the raptor didn’t seem to be in any pain, he still favored one side of his mouth over the other. It made Rowan wonder if he’d be up to being hauled around the park. When the raptor slinked into the shelter after the ACU soldiers had left, Rowan held up a bag of clothes. “If you still want to be shown around the park. Figure we could get some greasy food of your choosing. I know your tooth was…Gah! Okay, here.”

Immediately, Murder grabbed at the bag and yanked it into the shelter before starting to shift back into a human. Once dressed, he ducked under the gate and looked at Rowan with an expectant tilt to his head.

Rowan snorted softly and gestured for him to follow. “I…Have a couple questions, if that’s alright?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where you were born?” Rowan glanced over at Murder who shook his head. “What about where you grew up?”

“California.”

…Oh, Christ. He settled into the driver’s seat and kept his voice neutral. “Yeah? How did you get to Sorna?”

“Plane crash.” Murder briefly fussed with the seatbelt.

So, InGen had lied. Rowan glanced back over at Murder. “How old were you?”

At this point, Murder simply ignored Rowan, having gotten tired of the questions already. Instead, his attention shifted to the prospect of food. While he didn’t feel hugely hungry, a nice snack wouldn’t hurt. “Chicken place.”

Just like that, Rowan knew he’d gotten all the information he could out of Murder, for the moment. “I know the place you’re talking about. Yeah, we can get some.”

When they finally reached the restaurant, Rowan’s heart sank slightly. Despite it being late in the evening, the place still swarmed with people and he looked over to Murder who seemed slightly unsettled. “We can pick a different place, if you want.

Murder shook his head and sat down at the table before grabbing one of the menus. He ignored the uncertain look the other man gave him and simply focused on the idea of food. It’d been so long since he’d read anything and at first, the words were jumbled. Slowly, it started coming back to him and he began associating sensations with the words. Finally, he turned the menu to Rowan and pointed at the lemon pepper boneless chicken wings.

“Hey, yeah. That sounds great.” Rowan looked up at the waitress when she arrived. He smiled and ordered their meal. Although, when asked about drinks, his mind blanked and he looked to Murder.

“Water.” Murder commented, simply and shifted his attention to watching the people around him. Quite quickly, he noted a brunette woman watching him and he curiously focused on her, but glanced over at Rowan when the man spoke his name.

“Just so you know, work on the bigger pen is going well and…”

Murder tuned him out and went back to focusing on the woman. Every now and then, he’d nod at the appropriate time as Rowan talked. She seemed as interested in him as he, her. Though, his attention fully shifted to his food when it arrived. It tasted good enough, but his interests honestly were elsewhere. A touch to his arm caught his attention.

“Hey. I’m gonna go get some more sauce, alright?” Rowan didn’t really want to leave Murder alone if the hybrid wanted him to stay.

He glanced over at Rowan and simply nodded. Once the man left, he looked back to the woman who had just finished writing something down. She got up and walked over to him, then handed him a slip of paper. “Since you’re busy with your friend right now…”

Murder glanced down at the number and briefly caught the scent of interest. “Not that busy.” He offered her a faint smile. “He won’t mind.”

She glanced towards where Rowan had gone before looking back to Murder, then nodded. He got up and followed after her; he could always find Rowan later.

It took him a bit longer to get the sauce he wanted thanks to them refilling the machine, but soon, Rowan happily made his way back to the table. A table that had no one sitting at it. He glanced around and swore he saw Murder moving through the crowd, but quickly lost sight of him. How the fuck had he managed to lose the goddamned shapeshifter? “Well… _Shit_.”

As soon as the door to the hotel room closed, Murder worked to get the clothes off the woman. She’d given him a name, but he’d immediately disregarded it after giving her a false name; he’d never see her again. It didn’t matter. Before the final bit of clothing had hit the floor, he’d already pushed her onto the bed and climbed on top of her.

While he’d had plenty of sex in the past, it’d never been with a woman. Still, he knew enough about anatomy and remembered enough from the movies he’d watched as a child to know what to do. She dug her fingers into the muscle of his shoulders while he explored her neck with his lips and enjoyed the scents around him.

The problem with humans, were that they were fragile. So fragile compared to him. Despite his teeth being blunt as a human, they were still sharper than a true human’s teeth…And too much force with his nips could cause fatal injury. Instead, he buried his face in her neck and listened to the sounds of pleasure she made while trying to quell the inhuman noises he wanted to make.

The scent of an aroused female stirred instincts he didn’t know he had, ones that hadn’t presented themselves with Michael. Either way, they presented themselves too late to be of any concern. He came and lazily rolled his hips into her a few more times before finally pulling out, then rolling off onto his side.

She laid there a moment before slowly moving with a slight wince. “I think I’m going to be sore tomorrow.” Then, she looked over at him, grinning a bit. “Wanna spend the night?”

Murder shook his head. “Work.”

This caused her to make a face of disappointment, “That sucks. You’re a park worker, huh? Where do you work?”

“Raptor pen.” Finally, he sighed and briefly kissed her neck. “Should go.”

“Aw.” She didn’t bother to hide the pout in her voice and before allowing him to leave, briefly pulled him down for another kiss. “Maybe I’ll see you around again.”

“Maybe.” He quickly dressed and slipped out of the hotel room.

The more time that passed, the more Rowan worried. He couldn’t believe that he’d lost Murder. How the fuck could a six foot something, _behemoth_ of a man just fucking vanish? Something touched his shoulder and he turned around with plans of cussing them out, only to find himself staring up at Murder. “Where the fuck did you go?! I’ve been looking for you for like…An hour!”

“Had fun.”

“What the fuck did you do?” Rowan started dragging the other man towards where he’d parked the truck. He glanced over at Murder in time to see the man make a crude gesture.

“…Wait what.” He abruptly stopped and stared at Murder. “You had sex?”

“Yes.”

Rowan considered this for a long, long moment. “I’m equally proud and horrified.” Then, he considered the idea further. “Wait. You know what sex is? _How_?”

Murder simply grinned, and Rowan found himself further horrified. If Murder had been stuck on the island for seventeen years, but knew about sex…

He hadn’t been alone on the island.


	8. Play Time

_Alone but with a companion,_   
_Yet his life is so fragile,_   
_A mere mouse to my lion._

The startling realization of there being someone else on Sorna caused Rowan to wonder on his way back to his apartment. Sure, the briefing _had_ mentioned ‘other living subjects’ and another RH project that hung around Murder, supposedly, but nothing about them…Well, fucking. He felt a stab of concern and guilt. Everything had pointed towards Murder being the only one alive on the island and he hadn’t made mention of anyone else. Then again, he tended to be mum about the island in general…But what if there _had_ been someone else? What if Rowan had done more than just uproot the guy from his home?

Rowan stood at the window and stared out at the sleeping park. Murder’s need for companionship could easily stem from years of being alone, or it could stem from suddenly being alone. He honestly didn’t know which would be worse. Unfortunately, getting the guy back to Sorna wouldn’t be an option; he’d starve to death. Making another trip to Sorna to go tromping around in the jungle probably wouldn’t be feasible, either. He’d just have to see about getting a straight answer from Murder.

He ended up sleeping in the next morning since nothing had really been planned and honestly? Murder wouldn’t spontaneously freak out if he didn’t show up for breakfast. Besides, considering the guy had started dozing off in the truck? He’d probably end up sleeping in, himself. So, Rowan enjoyed his breakfast while watching shitty morning talk shows and occasionally muttered to himself about how some ‘life hack’ was bullshit.

When he finally meandered into the breakroom near the noon time hour, he had to duck a large, bright blue ball being thrown at his head. The ball hit the cement wall behind him with an echoing _thwak!_ Then bounced down the hallway. “…So, you decided to go with my idea?”

“I’m expecting him to destroy it in less than five minutes, but yes. Also, I had a meeting about Alpha with Claire. She wasn’t happy and I think Vic is going to get an earful.”

“Fucker deserves it.” Rowan briefly disappeared down the hall to grab the ball. “Welp. Time to see what Alpha thinks of it.”

Before Kaitlyn could respond, he’d already ducked out the door that led into the pen. Unsurprisingly, a number of rifles were leveled at Murder. “Oi! Don’t shoot him you shitfucks!”

Murder looked over to Rowan when he yelled, then looked up at the ACU soldiers, and then back to Rowan. Lightly, he tilted his head at the ball the man carried. While curious, he remained by the waterer, not wanting to risk being shot. However, this changed when Rowan threw the ball at him. Curious, he walked over to the ball and sniffed of it before nudging it with his snout. He supposed he could come up with a few games to entertain himself.

At that moment, Rowan came up with a fantastic idea. He looked up at the catwalk where Kaitlyn stood. “Kaitlyn! Get me a bucket of rats! I wanna teach him to play soccer!”

This caused Murder to shift his attention back to Rowan right before slamming his head into the ball. A half second later, Rowan squawked when the ball hit him in the chest. Murder simply tossed his head and barked.

“Asshole!”

“I think he might already know.” Kaitlyn teased, but headed for the building access door. A few moments later, she set a bucket on the ground by the pen access door. “Rowan!”

Rowan jogged over and grabbed the bucket, not entirely sure how he’d pull this off. Likely, Murder already knew what he meant by soccer, but they still had to pretend. After grabbing the ball, he kicked it towards the open shelter, then tossed the rat at Murder who caught and ate it. Once the hybrid had tilted his head curiously, Rowan kicked the ball towards him. Truthfully, Murder hated having to pretend to be dumb, but he had an act he needed to keep up.

When the ball came to a stop at his feet, he knocked it towards Rowan who verbally praised him, then tossed another rat at him before kicking the ball back. They went back and forth a bit before he managed to knock the ball past Rowan and into the shelter. This netted him _two_ rats. However, his stomach gave a loud grumble of hunger. All the activity had worked up his hunger and the rats were little more than snacks for him. Finally, he wandered over to Rowan and snatched his hat before taking off towards the mud wallow.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Rowan jogged after Murder but froze and glared when he stood over the wallow. “Don’t you fucking dare, you overgrown lizard.”

Murder stood there for a moment before dropping the hat into the mud, then darting off with a chittering laugh. Behind him, Rowan cursed loudly in Spanish and went to fetch his hat. By this point, Murder shifted his attention to his lunch: a bawling yearling calf. Rather than waiting for it to be completely lowered, he jumped up, grabbed its neck in his jaws, and yanked it out of the sling.

Decidedly, Rowan gave the hybrid a wide berth on his way to the pen access door…Mostly to avoid the gore being slung around. There, Kaitlyn met him. “Going to leave the ball?”

“Yeah, I figure that it’ll give him something else to do when I’m not around. He seemed to like the game of soccer, though.” He fussed with his hat to try and knock the mud off of it. “I figure we can try some sort of enrichment thing each day…Mix things up a little bit so he doesn’t settle into a routine.”

“He seems to struggle with change though, I don’t know if doing that would be good for him.” Kaitlyn replied as she followed Rowan to his truck. “It might be better to set up a schedule for everything…He’ll need to have one for when he gets into his permanent enclosure since he’ll be on display.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” He sat down in the truck seat, but didn’t shut the door. “Do you want me to work on something, or do you?”

Kaitlyn considered the question for a moment. “I’ll come up with something and get it sent to you this evening. Since you’re basically his keeper and handler, I want you to finalize any schedules I make.”

This caused him to blink a few times, but then grin. “Sure. I mostly hang around his pen, anymore. I might get called out to work on other pens if someone calls in sick but…” Rowan shrugged. “He’s my main thing.”

“Great. I’ll talk to you later.”

Later that evening, Rowan checked his mail and opened an e-mail from Kaitlyn. There, she’d laid out a surprisingly detailed schedule for Murder that included most of his habits. It made sense since the hybrid had a fairly set routine each day.

8-9a: Breakfast  
9-10a: Nap and/or mud wallow; pen cleaning as needed  
10-12a: Enrichment as weather allows  
12-1p: Lunch  
1-2p: Nap and/or mud wallow; pen cleaning as needed  
2-4p: Physical exam/health needs as required  
6p: Dinner

While it kept a nice routine, it also allowed for a nice bit of wiggle room. He didn’t really know about two solid hours of ‘enrichment’, but figured they could maybe do different activities. Rowan couldn’t deny how Murder had seemed a great deal perkier after the soccer game. Finally, he sent Kaitlyn a quick reply approving of the schedule. Unsurprisingly, he received a response a few minutes later stating she’d have the schedule posted in the breakroom and they’d start it in the morning. A second e-mail followed the first a few moments later and mentioned a physical after lunch.

Sure enough, when Rowan returned in the morning the schedule had been printed out, laminated, and posted on the relatively empty notice board. He shook his head a bit and went up on the catwalk to watch Murder eat for a little time before going back downstairs in order to get the wheelbarrow. While he knew the ACUs didn’t like him wandering around the pen, he didn’t particularly care. Murder tended to be pretty sedate after eating and it’d be the perfect time to clean up. Honestly, it helped that he tended to shit in the same spot.

By the time Rowan had finished cleaning, Murder had woken up from his nap. Which meant he could try ‘training Murder to play soccer’ again. Carrying the bucket of rats with him, he headed back into the pen. “Alpha, get your ball.”

Murder focused on Rowan for a moment then looked around for the ball. He’d messed with it a bit last night and didn’t quite know where it went. Standing up straight, he looked around with a soft, breathy purr as he swished his tail. Upon spotting the ball in the undergrowth, he darted to it and knocked it towards Rowan before trotting back into the cleared area. He noted Owen up above on the crosswalk; the man had his arms crossed judgingly.

He shifted his attention back to the man in the pen who kicked the ball at him. Much like the prior day, Murder knocked it back with his head. Abruptly, Rowan kicked the ball with the side of his foot and sent it shooting past him. Murder half turned to see where it’d gone and then looked back to Rowan who had a massive, shit eating grin.

“Get your ball.”

He huffed and stalked after the ball and knocked it back towards Rowan who, once more, tried to send it flying past him. Annoyed, Murder focused on the ball as if it were prey, then lunged at it when Rowan tried to shoot it past him. It took him a few tries to intercept it and finally, he sent it past Rowan and into the shelter.

“Alright, you earned it.” Rowan tossed him a rat.

“Having fun, Rowan?” Owen finally chose to speak and didn’t feel surprised when the man below grinned at him.

“I found a game he likes.” Rowan suddenly yelped when the ball hit the back of his head and knocked his hat off. “You fucking lizard!”

Murder simply laughed at him and darted towards him, plucking the hat up off the ground as he passed. He skidded to a halt by the wallow and turned to face Rowan before tossing his head lightly. Honestly, he saw it as little more than a harmless game.

“We are not doing this shit again. Drop the hat, I’m taking the rats with me.”

He considered this for a moment and took a step backwards, towards the muddy pit. Rowan picked up the bucket of rats. “I’m serious.” When he took another step towards the pit, Rowan turned around and started walking away. “Aight, bye.”

Finally, Murder huffed and walked after Rowan. Once he’d caught up with him, he curled his neck around the man and presented the hat to him. “That’s better.” Rowan took the hat, put it on before, then scratched Murder under the chin and gave him a rat. “Guess you’re done playing for today, huh? Feeling better but not 100%, I guess.”

He allowed the scratching for a handful of seconds before pulling away and wandering off. While he didn’t like being told what to do, he’d still developed a bit of trust for Rowan…Perhaps a great deal of trust, if he compared him to Owen and Kaitlyn. Murder settled under a tree to nap a bit due to feeling a bit overheated between all the running around and the humidity. Were he on Sorna, he would have gotten up early to eat then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon napping. He closed his eyes with a quiet huff and dozed.

Rowan looked up when Owen closed the catwalk door behind him. “Here to bitch me out?”

“The opposite. You’ve done a lot of work with Alpha, more than I ever dreamed possible.” Owen shrugged slightly. “I don’t know how you’ve done it but…Whatever it is, you’ve accomplished more in a couple of months than I’ve managed to do with my girls in years. I know he’s nothing like them, but…Still.”

Rowan grinned. “I basically treat him like a very murderous child who’s prone to temper tantrums. I think most of his issues were from being bored and mentally unstimulated. He’s pretty smart and he’s been improving a _ton_ now that we’ve started introducing stuff. Haven’t gotten a chance to use the pully just yet.”

“Let me know when you’re going to use it. I want to see what he does. Kaitlyn sent me a video of him and the calf, yesterday.” Owen cracked a grin. “That was fucking amazing.”

“Right?!” Rowan’s face lit up. “He’s absolutely loving the live feedings. He doesn’t really get to hunt because the pen is so small, but he seems to be doing better.”

He nodded a few times at Rowan. “I know with some species of snakes, wild caught ones don’t always transition over to pre-killed food very well and will have a better feeding response if they’re offered live…But captive bred snakes of the same species don’t have that problem. Might be sort of the same deal with him.”

“Ah, who knows? I’m just happy that he’s doing better. I mean, yeah, I bitch about the shit he does, but I was worried that the dumb fucker was gonna die.”

“Yeah. Kaitlyn was just about in tears when she called me. She’s really attached to him.” Owen glanced towards the shelter. “Honestly, I think we all are. He’s a character and a half.”

Since he’d finished with all the chores for the morning, Rowan took off to the main part of the park to get him and Murder lunch. Kaitlyn had been pretty vague about what she wanted done with Murder today, so he decided to get something tasty to, hopefully, put the hybrid in a good mood. When he returned to the pen, Murder eagerly waited for him. “Hey. I got you something greasy.” He unwrapped the burger and held it through the bars. “Just open up and I’ll put it on your tongue.”

Content, Murder savored the taste of the hamburger. It didn’t do anything to dent his hunger, but he still enjoyed the time with Rowan. Plus, it gave him ideas of what he might want to try on his next outing. After finishing the burger, he considered the idea of bugging Rowan for more when Kaitlyn rounded the corner carrying a plastic bucket. He didn’t miss the disapproving look she had, but it faded as she approached Rowan.

“Since you frequently wander around his pen, you get to do his physical exam. It also wouldn’t hurt for him to get a bath to knock off all the mud on him before the physical.” She set the bucket down and nudged it over to the man with her foot.

Rowan peered at the supplies inside and then looked up at Kaitlyn. “Physical I can see, but not the bath.”

“It helps knock off dead skin and loosen any parasites that might have burrowed in…Plus it’s a good way to find anything unusual under the skin. Lumps, bumps, growths…That sort of thing.”

“I didn’t see any soap.” Rowan took a bite of his burger.

“I figure it might bother his nose. Honestly, all I’m wanting you to try to do is hose him off and use the brush to scrub the mud off. If he doesn’t like the hose, just use the brush. This is all assuming you can keep him from immediately going to his wallow after lunch.” She glanced at the raptor who attempted to drag Rowan’s container of fries closer. “You know…I’m aware that your secret with Alpha is feeding him a bunch of junk food, but have you heard the latest rumor?”

Rowan groaned and tilted his head back against the bars. “Yes, I have!”

“The raptor fucker.”

“Pete keeps sending me these e-books. I don’t know where the fuck he gets them, but they’re all gay dinosaur on human erotica.” Rowan made an exasperated noise. “He sent me a few pictures, but IT caught him and he got written up by HR.”

Kaitlyn snickered. “So, uh…Is there any tru–“

“NO!”

“Ooo…That…Makes the physical a little bit harder.” Kaitlyn winced slightly.

“What? Why?”

“Well, the guys up at the lab have been talking about making Alpha a couple of girlfriends since the new enclosure should be big enough for two or three Utahs. Thing is…They’re worried about babies.” She sheepishly scratched the back of her head. “So…You need to do a…Manual stimulation and capture.”

“…What.” Rowan had a sinking feeling that he knew what the phrase meant.

She nudged the bucket towards him with her foot. “It’s scientist speak for ‘you get to put on your resume that you jerked off a dinosaur’.”

“NO! ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NOT!”

Murder took a slight step back at Rowan’s yelling and sent the man a bit of a dirty look. Meanwhile, Kaitlyn kept a straight face for all of two seconds before just fucking laughing. “I’m screwing with you, Rowan.”

“I…What? You’re not serious?”

“No, I’m not serious. They’re not going to make him girlfriends.” Her laughter had devolved into a fit of giggles. “But the look on your face.”

Rowan didn’t share her amusement.

After Murder finished eating lunch, Rowan ‘coaxed’ him over. “Alright big guy. Time for your bath.” He gently wiggled the hose at Murder who simply nipped at it. “Yeah. It’s just water.”

Murder nipped at the water a few more times before feigning disinterest. Honestly, with how hot it’d been lately, he welcomed the idea of being hosed off. Briefly, he flinched at the cold water, but then found himself leaning into the stiff bristled brush. It actually felt pretty good. Every now and then, he felt Rowan picking at something. He simply rumbled to himself and half closed his eyes.

“You know. I still wonder what caused all these scars.” Rowan commented as he ran a finger down the scar on Murder’s leg. “They’re all old, but damn. Half this shit looks like it should have killed him.”

“They all look like claw marks, so maybe he got into a fight with a raptor pack.” Kaitlyn stood on the catwalk above the two. “Either way, I’d say he won.”

“No kidding.” He finally twisted the handle to turn off the water. “He’s all rinsed off. I’ll see about getting him into the shelter for the physical.”

After getting a rat for his good behavior, Murder followed Rowan into the shelter…With some ‘coaxing,’ of course. There, he stood and allowed himself to be manipulated and examined. Lazily, he stretched his right leg back so they could look at the bottom of his foot, but after a moment stretched his toes. This caused his toe claw to curl forward and he sensed Rowan stiffen. Only when he relaxed his toes did Rowan continue with the exam.

“Well, my untrained eye isn’t seeing anything. What about you?” He glanced towards Kaitlyn who shook her head.

“He looks great. I’ll give him a clean bill of health. He just needs to gain a bit more weight to account for what he lost while being sick, but I think he’s steadily gaining it.” She made a note on her tablet and smiled at Rowan. “Thanks for helping out with that. It’s better than sedating him.”

“Oh, definitely. It always stresses him out.” He patted Murder on the hip and tossed him a rat. “Get out of here, lizard.”

The next morning, Rowan showed up and Murder assumed that he wanted to play more soccer. While he didn’t exactly mind it, he felt a bit mischievous. Rather than going to get the ball as instructed, he stalked over to the man and attempted to steal his hat. Immediately, Rowan plucked his hat off and held it away from him. This simply encouraged Murder into pursuing the game of keep away.

He nipped at Rowan’s hat in an attempt to pull it out of the man’s hand even as Rowan pulled it away from him. He ignored the swearing and snaked his head around to grab the brim in his mouth. Above them, the ACU watched tensely. While they’d gotten used to Rowan’s antics in the pen, they still remained ready to shoot. Wise to his move, the human put the hat behind his back. “Nuh-uh. Not getting my hat today.”

Murder stepped to the side, trying to circle around the human to get at the hat again. Instead, Rowan stepped back and kept his hat held away from Murder. It had become a bit of a game between them, despite Rowan’s constant complaining; Murder never harmed the hat…Beyond occasionally getting it muddy.

Finally, Rowan decided to make a blatant game out of it. Murder noted the grin on the human’s face as the man teased him with the hat and waved it at his face before yanking it away as he snapped at the hat. Murder’s playful snaps always missed the hat by miles; while he tried to get it, he really didn’t _try_. He huffed, fully intending to grab the hat and drop it in the mud wallow, but that required actually getting the damned hat. Softly, he made a purring snort and focused on the hat before snapping at it again as Rowan waved the hat towards him.

His front teeth sunk into something soft and warm and fleshy and Rowan _screamed_ ; the ACU soldiers yelled above them. Murder immediately released and tasted blood; the human stumbled back clutching his mangled right arm with his left hand.

“Don’t shoot him!” Despite being injured, Rowan tried to call off the ACU soldiers, but they ignored him in favor of handling what they saw as a threat.

Upset, Murder let out a sharp warning call and dropped to the ground…For the first time in his life he showed submission.

Seconds later, he felt the bite of several darts and felt it fitting as the world darkened around him.


	9. Uncertainty

_The scream echoes and twists_   
_And it replays in my mind,_   
_The guilt is unbearable._

Tiredly, Owen picked at the blood on his clothes and tuned out the tv in the corner that blathered out the news in Spanish. He’d always told Rowan that he’d end up getting hurt or killed by Alpha, but he assumed it’d be out of the usual raptor aggression…Not out of _play_. He tilted his head back against the wall with a sigh then looked towards the window of the hospital waiting room where the daylight slowly faded. Rowan hadn’t gotten out of surgery yet…Something about them still trying to piece his arm together.

Owen looked back to the tv. It had been an accident, pure and simple. He’d been there, watching, because Rowan wanted to use the pully system but instead got drawn into a game of keep-away with Alpha. It didn’t surprise him, he’d done the same with Blue during her hatchling days. But what followed…Alpha had the chance to attack, but instead…Instead he knew he’d fucked up and gone _submissive_ in a move reserved for showing apology in play.

He looked up when a doctor stepped into the waiting area. Briefly, they conversed and then Owen sank back down into his chair before pulling out his phone to dial Kaitlyn. “Hey, it’s Owen.”

“How’s Rowan?”

“He made it through surgery and they managed to put his arm back together, but they don’t know how usable it’ll be. Alpha mangled his forearm pretty badly, so they had to put all sorts of pins into it…He’s in the ICU right now and they’re not letting me up there just yet since I’m kinda covered in blood. I’m gonna see about getting a hotel room for the night. Barry’s gonna bring me some clothes in the morning.” Owen sighed, feeling exhausted. “How’s Alpha?”

“Keep me updated on how he’s doing. I’m not surprised Alpha finally turned on him…Surprised he didn’t kill him…Which is weird because Alpha’s absolutely stressed out. Didn’t eat dinner and he’s just pacing around where he attacked Rowan.”

“Kaitlyn, it wasn’t an attack. It was an accident. I saw the whole thing…Rowan was playing keep-away with his hat and moved it towards Alpha right when Alpha was snapping at him. If Alpha wanted to kill him, he could have. He went submissive instead. He _knew_ what he did was wrong. Chances are, Alpha is freaked out because he thinks Rowan’s dead or something.”

She went silent for a moment. “Well…Shit. I only heard what the ACU guys said because by the time the news got to me, you’d already taken off with Rowan to the mainland. So, what do we do about Alpha? I’m worried he’ll stress himself out again like he did when Rowan took his vacation. Except…”

“Except this time it’ll be worse because he knows something happened with Rowan.” Owen grimaced when he heard Alpha calling for Rowan in the background. “You might have to sedate him a bit until we can figure out what to do. Just enough to mellow him out a bit.”

“Dino Xanax.” She sighed. “Yeah. I can do that.”

The early morning events replayed in his mind as Murder paced. He could scent where Rowan stood as he bled, where Owen had come into the pen, and then how the two had left. Yet…He hadn’t seen Owen or Rowan, just Kaitlyn and it worried him. Had he accidentally killed Rowan? His gut twisted up in anxiety and…Fear. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time. Not since…He opened his mouth and called for Rowan again, pushing every ounce of air out of his lungs, knowing the call would carry.

Noise from the shelter caused him to bolt into it, and he started making Rowan’s call, only for it to sputter out into a whining warble that faded off. No Rowan or Owen, just Kaitlyn and a black man he’d never seen before.

“This is Alpha?” Barry looked to Kaitlyn who nodded. “I can see why Owen has been so taken with him…He’s a very handsome animal, but he’s terribly upset. Owen called me earlier and mentioned Rowan being injured. I’ll be going to the mainland in the morning with clothes for Owen.”

“Rowan is half insane…He’s got this bond with Alpha, stronger than what Owen and Blue has…If that says anything. He’s the only one that can go into Alpha’s pen. They were playing this morning and Alpha accidentally bit his arm.” She looked back to Alpha who continued to make the soft, fading warble. “Rowan made it through surgery, but he’s up on the ICU floor. That’s all I’ve really heard from Owen.”

Barry gave a slow nod and looked to Alpha. “He’s very stressed. Hear that sound he’s making? Not a good sound.”

“He’s been stressing himself since he woke up and his hasn’t eaten since breakfast.” She made a faint smile. “But I have an idea.”

“Oh?”

Kaitlyn briefly stepped into the breakroom before returning with a bucket that smelled faintly of hamburger. When she pulled the lid off, the smell immediately caught the raptor’s attention. “Rowan’s entire secret is that he handfeeds Alpha junk food at lunch. At this point, I don’t care what he eats…Just that he eats.”

This made Barry laugh. “So, he learned from Owen. He’d sneak Blue Slim Jims as treats.”

She shoveled some of the hamburger meatballs into a scoop and put it through the bars. Kaitlyn just chose to omit the fact that she’d put sedatives into several of the meat balls. If she could get the raptor to eat all of it, he’d have enough in his system to hopefully calm down but not be knocked out.

Hesitantly, Murder sniffed of the meat because cautiously taking one and rolling it around in his mouth. After deeming it acceptable, he started slowly eating what had been offered to him. By the time he finished the bucket, all of the compulsive thoughts had slowed down. Calmed, really. He finally laid down against the bars and blearily stared at the shelter door.

Kaitlyn tugged Barry into the breakroom and spoke quietly. “I slipped a sedative into some of the meatballs. I didn’t want to say anything in front of him because…I swear to God, Barry. That is not a normal raptor. He’s…” She sighed. “I know it sounds crazy but…I swear. He has human level intelligence. And if I would have said something, I don’t think he would have ate the meatballs.”

“Owen has said as much.”

“I just don’t know what to do since Rowan’s out of the picture right now. Alpha tolerates Owen, but he doesn’t like him as much as he does Rowan.” Kaitlyn finally slumped down on the couch. “And we’ve had so many issues with him so far…He’s just getting over being severely sick.”

“The avian flu that went around the park, yes?” When Kaitlyn nodded, Barry frowned slightly. “He needs to know that Rowan’s still alive. When I talk to Owen in the morning, I’ll get his opinion. We might be able to come up with something to help. I suppose it just depends on how Rowan feels.”

“Well, the sedative should last him through the night.”

When Barry arrived the next morning, Owen grabbed the bag of clothes and ducked into the bathroom to get dressed. Once he finished, he dragged the other man to the hospital, explaining on the way on what he’d seen the prior day. There, they were informed that Rowan had been moved out of the ICU and onto the main floor. Upon entering Rowan’s hospital room, the man in question gave them a faint but loopy grin.

“They’re giving me the _good shit_.” He blearily blinked a few times and poked at his arm. “Gonna have a fuckin’ awesome scar, though.”

Owen cracked a slight smile. “Doing alright?”

“Yeah.” However, Rowan sobered up. “How’s he doing? Is he stressing himself out?”

Barry sighed. “I assume you mean Alpha. When I saw him last night, yes, he was. He keeps calling for you.” Then he looked to Owen. “He was also making the stress noise. The one Echo made when we pulled her from the pen after her dominance fight with Blue.”

Despite being pale from blood loss, Rowan managed to pale a few more shades. He took all of four seconds to consider what had been said before he started trying to get out of the bed. “I gotta get back to him. He can’t stress out like the last time I was gone.”

“Get your fucking ass back in bed, Rowan!” Owen pushed him back down onto the bed. “You just had surgery, you can’t go fucking around with dinosaurs.”

“He knows he hurt me, Owen. He doesn’t know if I’m alive. Look how bad he got when I took a two-week vacation. This is so, so much worse. I-I promised him I wouldn’t disappear on him again.” Rowan glanced between the two men, distraught over the idea of being unable to tell Murder what’d happened.

Barry sent Owen an amused look. “He’s worse than you.” Then he looked back to Rowan. “Kaitlyn informed me of his intelligence and we discussed your condition…He knows you’re alive. Before I left Nublar, I gave him the blanket off your bed. The last I saw of him, he was using it as a pillow.”

This relaxed Rowan a bit, but he still picked at the blanket that covered him. “He needs to see me. Somehow.”

“Facetime.” Barry commented and when the two men looked at him, he smiled. “I have family in France.”

“It might work.” Owen mused and looked to Rowan. “You watch movies with him on your iPad. If he can see and hear you, it might help him calm down.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him from stressing himself out.”

Murder paced his pen. He’d gotten wise to Kaitlyn drugging his food and started refusing it, much to Kaitlyn’s dismay. No one had given him updates with Rowan and he worried the man had died. Quietly, he made a whimpery warble and twisted his head to pick at his shoulder with his teeth. He hadn’t broken the skin…Yet. A whistle from the catwalk above immediately caught his attention and his heart sank when he saw Owen.

He grimaced at the sight of Alpha. The damn raptor had started pacing his weight off and just seemed to be in a constant state of agitation, if the panting were any indication. It’d taken longer than he’d hoped to get everything set up, but he prayed that Barry’s idea would work. Otherwise, he had no idea what to do short of busting Rowan out of the hospital.

Whistling from the shelter caught Murder’s attention and he reluctantly slinked into it where he found Owen. Immediately, he recognized Rowan’s tablet. He flicked his eyes back to Owen and quietly made Rowan’s call.

“He’s not here, yet. But. I got something for you.” Owen tapped a few things on the iPad before turning it around.

Murder stared at, what he assumed to be, a picture of Rowan…Until the picture _moved_. He snorted and went a bit wide eyed before tilting his head and quietly making Rowan’s call again.

Rowan smiled tiredly. “Hey, you big dumb lizard.” He couldn’t help but laugh a bit at the sudden deluge of chirps, clicks, and other sounds Murder made. “It’s alright. I’m okay. Tired, drugged, and bored, but I’m okay.”

Carefully, Owen put the tablet down so that it leaned against the bar of the gate on Alpha’s side of the shelter. Unsurprisingly, the raptor sunk down to the ground in order to focus on the screen with one eye. “Looks like Barry’s idea worked out.”

“Yeah, I’m glad. He looks like shit thought.”

“He went off food. Again.” Owen sighed and sat down on the ground.

“…Dummy.” Rowan sighed. “Look. I’m gonna be in the hospital for a while. You gotta eat, alright? I’m fine and I’m not mad at you. I know it was an accident, okay? I’ll get out faster if I’m not worrying about you. Eat your cows and listen to Owen, okay?”

Murder flicked his eyes towards Owen before focusing back at Rowan and made a quiet chirp. Rowan grinned. “Owen’s gonna let me know if you’re being a shithead though. Aren’t you Owen?”

“Yep.”

“So, behave, alright? I’ll bring you a buncha greasy food when I get back…And since I don’t have anything to do, I’ll be trying to talk to you every day. Gonna behave for me?” When Murder made another chirp, Rowan smiled. “Good. I gotta go for now. Medicine is kicking in. I’ll talk to you later, big guy.”

Once the call disconnected, Owen looked to Alpha who quietly watched him. “…Look. I know we kinda got off on the wrong foot with me trying to train you and stuff. But…For the sake of Rowan…” He grimaced at the agreement he’d made with Rowan. “I won’t change anything with your care, meaning no being locked up, no sedation, none of that…If you don’t attack me. I know you’re scary smart, and I know you can understand me…Somehow. Do we have a deal?”

Murder considered this for several minutes before finally making a quiet chip. Owen sighed softly. He didn’t know how he felt about the entire idea, besides it being insane and potentially resulting in his death or maiming. “I’ll…Assume that’s ‘yes’. Alright, well. Go get some food. Remember what Rowan said.”

After a moment longer, Murder pushed himself back up to his feet and slinked out of the shelter to eat. While his stomach still twisted up in stress, he focused on eating. Rowan had made a decent amount of sense with what he said. While he didn’t eat as much as he normally did, it ended up being more than what he’d eaten in the prior days. Hopefully, Rowan would understand.

“I don’t know how, but he listened to you: he’s eating.” Owen watched Alpha from the loading gate. “He’s not tearing into it like he usually does, but considering he hasn’t ate for a few days? I’ll take it.”

Rowan sighed and made a quiet noise of pain. “S’good.” His arm ached, despite the pain medication, but he could wiggle his fingers with some difficulty…Much to the surprise of the doctors. “As long as he stops stressing out…”

Owen didn’t get the courage to go into Alpha’s pen until the next day. Despite Rowan’s reassurement, he still worried about the raptor. Alpha had proven to be intelligent but unpredictable. Rather than charging him or being aggressive, the raptor simply remained in his wallow and watched as Owen cleaned…A task he really, really didn’t like. However, he’d made a promise to Rowan and if it helped keep the two of them from stressing out…

Cleanup ended up being a great deal easier than he expected. Alpha’s habit of using one spot as his designated shitting area hadn’t changed. Honestly, the feeding area ended up being that only area that really required a lot of walking around. Alpha tended to scatter the bones around during feeding time, but even then, they were limited to the general feeding area. Otherwise, Owen found himself finished surprisingly quickly.

When he turned around after tossing the last bone into the wheelbarrow, he damn near jumped out of his skin. Alpha stood behind him with a slight head tilt to his lowered head. Oddly enough, the raptor had his mouth slightly open. “You have something there?” After a moment, Alpha opened his mouth and dropped a bone at Owen’s feet. “…Huh. Like your pen nice and tidy, don’t you? I’m sorry, but I didn’t bring anything with me for you. Uh, thanks though.”

This caused Murder to quietly huff in annoyance. He’d assumed that Rowan had told Owen more things, but apparently not. Finally, he lightly nosed the man’s hand before tilting his head to the side. It took Owen a moment to realize what had been asked of him. “Is this what you want?” He hesitantly scratched the underside of Alpha’s chin until the raptor abruptly pulled his head away and wandered off. “…Huh.”

That evening, Owen set up the iPad with facetime and smiled at how eager Alpha had become. The raptor laid down and intently watched Rowan as the man talked about life in the hospital. It tended to be mostly Rowan bitching about the food and lack of decent tv, but he updated Alpha about every facet of his progress. He sat there listening in and found himself amazed at the interaction between the two.

Rowan jabbered away and only seemed to pause to catch his breath, which almost always prompted some sort of noise from Alpha. Finally, the injured man shifted his attention to Owen. “How’d he do for you today?”

“Didn’t cause me any trouble. I cleaned his pen and he brought me a bone I missed in exchange for his chin being scratched. He’s honestly been pretty well behaved, so far.”

“Good. I usually bribe him for stuff…Basically a case of: if he behaves, I’ll get him a treat. So, he’s kinda learned that if he does something that he’ll get something in return. If he starts acting up, remind him about my offer of junk food.” Rowan sighed. “He’s not…Really aggressive unless he has a reason to be. For a raptor, he’s incredibly laid back. And he really does talk to you if you pay attention to him.”

“I know raptor language, though. He speaks it but…”

“Think American English vs British English, Owen.” He squirmed to get himself comfortable on his bed. “They’re both English, but there’s a bunch of differences. Like…I don’t know. Biscuit. Americans see it as some breakfast food and the Brits think it’s a cracker. I kinda think he speaks another type of raptor than what you’re used to.”

Owen considered this idea for a moment, “You know, that really does make sense. The girls were all hand raised by me and so they’d have their own language. Alpha is wild and would have a similar but different language. It doesn’t explain how or why he can understand people talking.”

“Yeah, I can’t answer that one, Owen. I just roll with it. S’why I think we ought to keep his care team limited to you, me, and Kaitlyn when he gets moved to the main enclosure.”

“I agree. Kaitlyn already brought it up with me and she’s preemptively working on the paperwork. Like I told you: she’s attached to him.” Owen grinned. “It’s getting late though and you should really rest. Besides, it looks like Alpha’s kinda dosing off.”

Rowan stared at the screen at Murder for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m just happy Barry came up with this idea. I have no idea what sort of state Alpha’d be in right now, otherwise.”

“Probably nothing good.”

It took a week for the hospital to finally release Rowan with a hefty prescription of narcotic painkillers. They left him feeling in a bit of a stupor, but helped minimize the ache in his arm and as much as he bitched about it, appreciated the help from Owen in getting back to his apartment. “I don’t want to be here. I wanna see Alpha.”

“You need to rest. Kaitlyn went and made you a bunch of little meals so you don’t have to try to cook. They’re in the freezer.” Owen sent Rowan a disapproving look. “Seriously, Rowan. Rest. I’ll haul you up to his pen in the morning…But I don’t want you to go in. Your arm is basically being held together by pins right now.”

“Fine, Mooooooooom.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t sass me.” Owen shook his head. “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will.”

Rowan waited until the park had finally shut down before grabbing a bag to shove his iPad and medicine into. He purposely had put off taking the pain medication on account of how groggy it made him feel…Which wouldn’t be good for driving. He still took it slow and it took him nearly twice as long to get to the enclosure. There, he found Murder napping in the enclosure. “Hey.”

Blearily, Murder opened his eyes and stared at Rowan before surging up to his feet, making the man’s call. He paced back and forth, making a wide variety of calls, but shut up when Rowan laughed.

“If you give me a few, I’ll take my meds and plop down in there with you.”

Murder nodded vigorously and impatiently waited on Rowan. While he waited, he kicked up the bedding into a nice mound and laid down. After a few minutes, the man slowly made his way into the shelter via the outside entrance. He sat down with a soft grunt and gently pushed Murder’s head away when he sniffed of the injured arm.

“It’s kinda sore still.” Rowan leaned back against Murder and sighed. “I am fucking tired now.”

He considered this a moment before leaning over to nip the blanket in the corner with his teeth, then pulled it over next to Rowan. Next, he gently pushed the man over and then curled up around him, protectively. He’d done this so many times before in the past with Michael that the placement of his limbs came as a second nature.

Rowan laid there a moment, initially unsure of the hybrid’s plan. However, when it became clean, he tucked the blanket under his head as a pillow. Then, he took note of how Murder’s claws were all positioned in such a way to minimize potential injury. Softly, he spoke. “You’ve done this before, with someone, haven’t you?”

Murder opened his eyes and glanced at Rowan for a moment before he gave a faint nod. Rowan felt his heart sink and reached out to brush a hand across the slight ridge over Murder’s eye. He didn’t know what to say, if he should even say anything. Quite honestly, it simply hardened his resolve to keep the hybrid safe.


	10. Bonded

_Echoes of the past and Another,_  
_But the past is dead and buried,_  
_This new One is mine._

When morning arrived, so did Owen at Rowan’s apartment building. He frowned when he didn’t see Rowan’s truck parked in front of the building, but went up to the man’s apartment, anyway. There, he knocked on the door and waited. No response. Next, he called the man’s phone. Again, nothing. Finally, he unlocked the door and stepped inside. A quick exploration of the apartment said that Rowan hadn’t been there since last night. Owen immediately knew where the man had gone and quietly cursed.

Unsurprisingly, when he pulled up at Alpha’s pen, he spotted Rowan’s truck; the hood had long since cooled. Several minutes later, he stepped around the corner and stared at Alpha’s shelter; the raptor still remained curled up and asleep. Shaking his head, Owen peered into the breakroom where he saw Rowan’s backpack on the table, but still no Rowan. “…The idiot didn’t…”

He peeked back out of the breakroom towards Alpha. After closer inspection, the damn raptor had curled up around something and he had a good idea of what that something might be. Owen walked closer and had to do a double take despite having already expected it. Half curled up against Alpha’s stomach and chest laid Rowan with his injured arm tucked up against his own chest, sound asleep.

The man had half covered himself up with the blanket and half used the same blanket as a pillow. Even more, Alpha’s limbs were positioned so that his claws stayed far away from Rowan, but still seemed almost protective. Since the two were still asleep, Owen pulled his phone out and took a quick picture to send to Kaitlyn. Unfortunately, the chirp from the phone caused Alpha to open his eye and _growl_. Owen froze at the uncharacteristic sound from the raptor. The only time Alpha had seriously growled at him had been when they first met, but this…This sounded exactly like what Hoskins had received.

Murder slowly raised his head and continued growling before opening his mouth and snarling. He felt pleased when Owen took a step back. However, his growls were cut off suddenly when Rowan lightly smacked his nose. Huffing, Murder snuffled the man’s head and face to ensure he hadn’t been injured further during the night.

“M’fine. Quit it.” Rowan shoved Murder’s head to the side. “You woke me up, you dummy.”

Slowly, he sat up and winced slightly at the ache in his arm. Then, he focused on Owen who had a tight look on his face. “Mornin’ Owen.”

“Are you fucking insane? Actually, no. Don’t answer that. I know you are. What the fuck, Rowan?”

“He needed to see me.” He carefully got up to his feet, using Murder’s head to steady himself and didn’t miss how the hybrid lightly pushed upwards to help him stand. “I’m fine, Owen. Just sore. Look, he’s basically tiptoeing around me. He knows he hurt me and he doesn’t want it to happen again. If shit happens, it’s because it’s gonna be my fault, and it’s a risk I’ll take.”

Slowly, Murder got up to his feet and tilted his head at Rowan. The man cradled his arm and his shoulders were tense, suggesting pain. Softly, he lowered his head and lightly touched the shoulder of Rowan’s injured arm, then tilted his head further with a soft, inquisitive noise.

“Yeah, yeah…Lemme out, will you Owen?” As soon as he could, he ducked under the gate and started for the breakroom in order to pop a meal into the microwave. “I know it’s dumb, and I know you have plenty to bitch about, but…I trust him, alright? He’s had so many chances to kill me, but he hasn’t.”

Owen followed him into the breakroom. “You’re right, on both counts, but…Honestly? Same. I’ve kinda given up on talking about how he’s different from my girls. He’s just something else entirely. Though, I still wonder why he attacked that one guy, Jacob.”

“Fucker half assed his job.” Rowan had asked Murder about it and found out the truth of things. He couldn’t blame the hybrid in the least bit and had he known sooner, likely would have punched the guy, himself. “I ended up having to redo a lot of his crap. One time, I checked the shelter and the fucking waterer still had soap bubbles in it.”

“You’re shitting me.” Owen looked over with his eyebrows raised.

“Absolutely not. Chances are, Alpha figured out who was fucking up on the cleaning and got pissed. I know I’d be mad if someone gave me soapy water.” Rowan downed a pain pill and started making himself some coffee.

Owen nodded. “Well, last I heard, he had to be let go with a decent severance package due to his injuries.”

“Considering how much blood I had to clean up? I’m not surprised.” Rowan stirred his food and peeked around the corner in time to see Murder wandering out of the shelter, presumably to eat his own breakfast. He looked back to Owen. “You’re going to insist on handling his pen stuff, aren’t you?”

“You only have one good arm. Until the doctors clear you, yeah.” He frowned. “But I don’t know if I want to today with how he was growling at me.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. He was just being protective, I think.” Rowan commented between bites of food.

“You _think_.”

“I’ll hang out in the pen with you, you pussy.”

Owen shifted his attention to his phone and sent the image to Kaitlyn, along with a short message to tell her how Alpha’d growled at him. “I don’t know, Rowan. He meant business with that growl. I wouldn’t put it past him to still be stressed over you being injured.”

“He’s not stressed. He’s being protective.” He sighed and looked up at Owen. “If he was being aggressive, he would have tried attacking you through the bars. Instead, he stopped when I told him to. I was asleep and he wanted to keep me safe.”

“I’m going to go against my gut feeling and trust you on this.” Owen looked down at his phone and grinned slightly, then looked over when Rowan’s phone vibrated.

Rowan plucked up his phone and glanced at the text, then sent the other man a glare. “You seriously took a picture of that?” He grumbled and composed a reply to Kaitlyn. “She’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

Once Rowan had finished eating, he followed Owen out into the pen. “Christ, I like how these pain meds help my arm, but they make me so loopy.”

“Are you sure you should be out here in the pen?”

“I’ll be fine.” While Owen headed to the shit pile, Rowan wandered over to Murder who watched him from under a shade tree. He sat down with a grunt next to the hybrid and looked over. “Don’t steal my hat, alright? I’m at a disadvantage.”

Murder subtly shook his head and kept a hawk like gaze on Owen as the man moved around the pen. Only when Rowan poked the side of his neck did he look over at the man. Briefly, he snuffled the side of his head before tilting his head curiously.

“He’s not going to hurt me. We all know it was an accident. Just chill.” However, Rowan rolled his eyes when Murder made a throaty hiss at Owen as soon as the man came within ten feet of them. Lightly, he popped the hybrid’s nose with his hand. He hated treating him like a dog, but Goddamn. “Fuckin’ chill.”

Finally, Murder grumbled and laid his head down, but continued glaring at Owen up until the point of Rowan scratching his head. Then, he closed his eye and made a quiet huff of enjoyment. Rowan rolled his eyes. “I think you need another bath, ‘cause holy hell you _stink_.”

“I’m not giving him bath. I think he’d bite my arm off.” Owen leaned against the rake as he watched the two. “I still say he’s moody about something…Well, moodier than he usually is.”

“I wasn’t gonna ask you to give him a bath.” Rowan gave a one shouldered shrug. “Maybe it’s just the weather change since we’re going into winter?”

“Maybe. I’ll bring it up to Kaitlyn.”

Rowan glanced over to Murder who seemed to have dozed off. “It’s been a stressful past week for him, Owen. Don’t read too much into it.” Though, Owen had planted a small seed of concern in his mind. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask Murder about things. “But I’m not going to say no about her expert opinion on all things hangry dinosaur.”

Once he had a chance, Owen called Kaitlyn and explained to her about Alpha’s mood shift. “Rowan thinks it’s maybe the weather change or Alpha being stressed for the past week.”

“It could be a lot of things. There’s still a lot we don’t know about dinosaurs and we know next to nothing about male dinosaurs.” Kaitlyn mused, already having a few ideas based off of general animal physiology. “Is he smelling any different?”

“I won’t get near him because he keeps acting aggressive towards me…But Rowan said he needed another bath because he stunk.” Owen took a sip of his water. “So…According to Rowan? Yeah.”

“Alright. Do me a favor and humor me on this, because it’s gonna sound strange.” Once Owen had confirmed, she continued. “Get a rag or something and rub it all over one of your girls. Under the chin would be best since that’s where the scent glands are. Lock him up after he has lunch and rub the rag on stuff in his pen. Let him go and tell me how he reacts.”

“You’re right, that _does_ sound strange. What are you thinking?”

“Just a hunch.”

Owen did as Kaitlyn suggested after mentioning it to Rowan who seemed as confused as he did. Once he finished, he headed up to the catwalks and gave the other man the signal to release Alpha. The raptor wandered out of the shelter and started for one of the shade trees, but paused by one of the catwalk support pillars to sniff of it. Immediately, he looked around with his upper lip curled and his mouth open slightly.

Considering he’d never seen this before, Owen pulled out his phone and started recording. After a moment, Alpha stood up straight then made an odd screech that seemed to undulate in tone before finally ending in a bark. He tiled his head to the side, as if listening before darting around the pen to sniff of the different areas Owen had marked with the rag. Finally, he returned to the center of the pen and looked around, seemingly confused.

Rowan had wandered up to the catwalk during the middle of it and stared down at Murder, baffled, before he looked to Owen. “The hell was that about?”

“I don’t know. I’m sending the video to Kaitlyn.” A moment later, his phone rang with the vet requesting to be put on speaker. “It’s on.”

“So…I know what Alpha’s issue is. It’s always been up in the air about dinosaur breeding cycles, but…Long story short? He’s basically in rut and looking for girlfriends. I think the reason he’s being protective of Rowan is because Rowan’s his ‘packmate’.”

Rowan glanced towards the pen where Murder had finally laid down under a tree. Suddenly, he felt shitty about agreeing to what Kaitlyn had wanted. It just felt wrong to be experimenting on the hybrid without his permission, even if happened to be pretty harmless stuff. Owen and Kaitlyn just saw Murder as a very intelligent raptor and he wondered how they’d treat him if they knew the truth.

While he really, really didn’t know much about went on in Murder’s head, he felt they’d just succeeded in keying him up and probably made him frustrated. He definitely needed to talk to the hybrid tonight to get some answers about things. “So, why’s he being pissy towards Owen?”

“Simple: Owen’s male and constantly smells like female raptors.”

Suddenly, Owen got it. “He sees me as another alpha male and therefore competition and a danger to his ‘pack’.”

“Yup. The problem with all this, is that we have no idea how long it’ll last. It might be better if you stay away from the pen for a bit unless he seems like he’s calming down. Or at the very least, keep him penned up while you have to clean.”

Owen glanced over to Rowan who, surprisingly, nodded in agreement. “Well, Rowan agrees with the idea. Depending on how long he stays in rut, we might have to push back moving him to the enclosure.”

The caused Rowan to look over to the other man. “It’s almost done?”

“Yup. They have his side of things completely finished. Right now, they’re working on finishing the visitor side. Once it’s down to painting and quieter stuff, they want to move him so he can get used to the enclosure.”

“I wanna see it before we move him.” Rowan glanced over to Murder. “Just to make sure.”

“All three of us are going to be inspecting it, since we’ve worked with him the most.” He sent the other man a grin. “I’m pretty sure Alpha’s gonna love it. He’ll actually be able to run around.”

Rowan simply nodded and simply watched the hybrid occasionally scent the air. “Yeah, that’ll be great.”

Murder spent the rest of the day irritated and frustrated, mostly irritated at the trick they’d played on him. Sure, the scent hadn’t quite been right, but it’d been more than enough to trip every damn instinct he had. No doubt he’d get grumped at by Rowan for not eating, but he didn’t really feel like it. Never did. Michael had always complained, but that had been more about being hounded relentlessly for a few days. Sure, it’d been somewhat enjoyable…While Michael had been alive, but afterwards? Just a nuisance that distracted him. Then again, he hadn’t really had a good way to vent his frustrations. So, he’d dealt with it the best he could and continued on with life.

When Rowan arrived that evening, Murder wandered to the shelter, expecting Netflix or something similar. Instead, he found the man holding a bag of clothes which were then held out to him. Curiously, he took them and tilted his head.

“I wanna talk…And…Maybe let you wander around the park for bit.”

After a moment, he changed into his human form and dressed, then ducked under the gate to follow Rowan. “Arm?”

“Aches a lot. Doctors think I’ll have full usage of it…Somehow. They damn near amputated it.” Rowan looked over and sighed at how Murder had glanced away. “Dude. I don’t blame you. We were both being dumbasses. I’m more worried about you and how you’ve been acting. That’s what I want to talk about.”

Murder shrugged. “It’s normal.”

“Wait, so, you understand what’s going on with the whole…” Rowan vaguely gestured since he didn’t know how to phrase it.

“Mate hunting? Yes. Has happened for years.”

Well, that answered a number of questions. At least Murder likely knew what he needed. Rowan eased himself into the truck. “You need a shower if we’re going to go anywhere. Kaitlyn called it a ‘rut’.” He glanced over to Murder who simply shrugged. “Does it always happen late in the year?”

Murder shrugged again. He didn’t know the month. “Always early dry season.”

He’d suspected as much after talking a bit with Kaitlyn. Finally, Rowan sighed. Now came the awkward question, which he suspected he knew the answer to already. “So…What helps?”

“Fucking.”

Well, if nothing else, Murder tended to be blunt. Rowan sighed since he really didn’t know what to do, short of finding the hybrid a hook up for the evening. Since he knew about sex and apparently the stuff that went along with it… “Okay. Game plan for the night. We go to my place, get you cleaned up so you don’t smell like the raptor pen, and we head to the bar to find you someone for the night…If you want to, anyway. I don’t kn–“

Murder looked over to Rowan, “Yes. Meet back at home.”

“Er. Who’s home? Yours or mine?”

“Yours.”

“Can you remember how to get back?” Rowan pulled into his usual parking lot and glanced over to Murder who nodded. “Alright...”

Patiently, Rowan waited for Murder to finish showering and wondered how his life became so damned weird. A sudden knock on his door caused him to jump. About the only person who’d show up this late would be Owen and holy shit, not a good thing. He really didn’t need Owen to meet Murder in the case of the hybrid doing something blatantly raptory. Grimacing, he opened the door and eyed the raptor trainer. “I’m not hanging out at Alpha’s pen tonight. He’s being moody.”

Owen narrowed his eyes slightly at Rowan, noting how the man seemed to be nervous. “Rowan, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m just…Busy.”

“You don’t look busy. You sure you’re alright?” Owen leaned over to peer into the apartment and caught a glimpse of a tall, dark haired man stepping out of Rowan’s room. The man hadn’t fully dressed and looked capable of wrecking just about anyone in a fight. Briefly, Owen swore he saw a flash of a scar peeking over the man’s shoulder but discounted it due to the lighting. He focused back on Rowan. “You could have just said you had ‘company’. I’m cool with that sort of thing.”

“I…What?” Rowan took a moment to realize that Owen must have seen Murder and what he meant before his face turned red. “That’s…We’re not…”

Before Owen could respond, a male voice said Rowan’s name in a very bland and almost emotionless tone. Then, the door abruptly slammed shut in his face from someone shoving it, likely Rowan’s mystery guy. He stood there a moment and listened to the muffled conversation for a bit before finally leaving.

“Jesus Christ.” Rowan stomped away from the door and glared at Murder a bit. “What’s your deal with him, anyway? Do you think he’s a threat?”

“No.” Murder lightly clawed at his hair to tug out the remaining tangles.

“Competition?”

“No. Annoying.”

“…Because he tried to ‘train’ you?” Rowan peeked out the window and couldn’t see Owen.

“No. Know it all _idiot_.”

Rowan blinked and looked over at Murder. “What do you mean?”

Murder frowned and struggled to put his thoughts into words. “Thinks he knows everything. About raptors.” He shook his head. “Knows little.”

“Well, I mean…He trained his squad.” Rowan popped his head up when Murder _laughed_.

“Bullshit. Everything. He raised them. They only know him.” He shook his head. “Raptors follow strongest. Weak leader, weak pack. They’ll leave if a stronger leader. They’d follow me.”

Rowan considered this for a moment. “So, if a stronger raptor like…You showed up and challenged Owen, they’d follow that raptor instead?”

“Yes.”

“Huh. Interesting. Well, ready to go?” At Murder’s confirmation, he headed out of the apartment and back to the truck. There, he drove them to one of the clubs on the island and sat at the bar chatting with the bartender while Murder lurked. After a short while, he spotted the hybrid leaving with someone, a woman maybe, and quietly hoped he hadn’t just gotten someone killed.

Murder felt delighted in how quickly he found someone willing. She saw him the same way he saw her: someone attractive to satisfy primal urges with. No names, no small talk, none of that. Once at her hotel room, they didn’t even bother with the bed. He felt perfectly fine with the idea of having her legs around his waist while he fucked into her against the wall. It helped that she apparently enjoyed things on the rougher side.

When they finished, he dressed and slipped out to make his way back to where Rowan lived. He spotted the man’s truck in the parking lot and made his way up to the apartment where he knocked on the door. Rowan answered a moment later and looked him over with a critical eye before gesturing at the dark bruises on the side of his neck. “I take it you had fun?”

“Yes.”

“…You didn’t kill them, did you?”

Murder gave Rowan a surprised and slightly offended look. “No. Exhausted, but alive.”

“Oh good. I was kinda worried.” Finally, he sighed. “Well, let’s get you back to the pen. I have some good news and bad news though. Good news is that the new pen is almost done. So, you’ll get moved in the next few weeks.”

“The bad?”

“Cameras around the pen. So…I won’t be able to sneak you out.” Rowan grimaced at the unhappy look Murder gave him. “Trust me, I’m not happy about it, either. Short of killing the power to the entire building, I won’t be able to do anything…But I think you’ll be happier. You’ll have a lot more room and Kaitlyn is trying to push for a lot of accommodations since you’re ‘wild’…Especially since you’ll be on display.”

“…A zoo animal?” Murder looked over to Rowan with a frown.

“Haven’t you paid attention to anything I’ve said about the place?” When the hybrid shook his head, Rowan made an exasperated noise. “Figures. Cliff Notes: it’ll be heavily planted to try and mimic Sorna with the center area being grasslands. You’ll have a waterfall and a pond in the back…Plus there’s going to be an enclosed walk way that loops from one side of the observation building to the other. I don’t think you’ll be able to see any of the visitors. It’s mostly just going to be towards the front of the enclosure by the building.”

He considered this for a moment and nodded. “ACU?”

“Not…Really? Only if we’re going to be in the pen. There’s going to be a ton on the enclosure wall walkways when we move you, though. It’s still a few weeks out, Murder. I’ll let you know when I get a set date for when they want to move you.” Rowan pulled into his usual parking spot at the pen and looked over to Murder. “…Are you feeling better at least?”

Rather than replying, Murder simply got out of the truck and walked towards the building, leaving Rowan to make an exasperated noise. This time, instead of bothering with the gate, he simply opened the pen access door and took the clothes once the hybrid had stripped down. After Murder had changed, Rowan spoke his name. When he had the other’s attention, he held up his hand but hesitated. It felt strange to be thinking about petting someone that’d been human moments before. Murder didn’t seem to share his internal struggle and lightly butted the top of his head against Rowan’s hand. “I’ll get you off the island, Murder. It’s just a matter of when.”


	11. Moving Day

_The new home is expansive,_  
_No longer can I see walls,_  
_I know it’s only an illusion of freedom._

Rowan ended up playing wingman for Murder over the course of the next week and a half, which arguably had to be the strangest thing he’d done in his life. During the peak of the rut, the hybrid became nearly unbearable to be around in terms of personality. While usually a bit moody on the best of days, he still tended to be fairly chill. Instead, he became standoffish and generally only interested in when he’d get to have sex again. He didn’t want to be touched and barely seemed interested in food. His mind remained fixated on one thing and one thing only.

Rowan didn’t understand the whole deal with the rut, nor how it really affected Murder mentally, just that he became increasingly uncomfortable when he noted the hybrid eyeing him up. He had no idea if Murder saw him as competition or had a sexual interest since he didn’t seem to be picky on who he wandered after. Still, when Murder started becoming interested in food again, Rowan figured things were finally simmering down. Then, just like that, a switch flipped and the hybrid had gone back to his usual somewhat mellow self. Honestly, Rowan felt a bit bad for him at the end of things since it’d become clear that Murder couldn’t really do anything to stop it. If anything, he’d seemed to be relieved when the rut ended.

Still, the ride never ended and as soon as Murder finished the rut, Rowan got called out to the new enclosure. There, he met Owen and Kaitlyn who both looked excited. He peered up at the cement walls and saw the tops of the trees barely peeking over. “That’s gotta be a twenty-foot wall.”

“Eighteen.” Owen replied as he led the two through the loading gate where they stepped into a lush ‘meadow’ with knee deep grass. Above them, disguised as a fallen tree, sat the observation walkway that led back to the main building. To their left, the meadow abruptly changed to scrubby undergrowth and then jungle; the faint sound of a waterfall broke up the sound of construction from outside the enclosure.

“Holy shit…” Rowan breathed and wandered past Owen. “This is amazing.”

“Did they agree with my idea of a divided shelter?” Kaitlyn glanced to the building.

Owen nodded. “Yeah. There’s one part of it that allows for visitor observation so if you’re wanting to show Alpha off during vet checkups, you can. But there’s a second, private area for him to go if he doesn’t want to be bothered or Rowan wants to watch Netflix.”

He led the other two to the shelter for them to look it over. Both sections of the shelter were twice as big as what Alpha currently had, meaning the raptor could lay down and fully stretch out. “I’m hoping all the extra room will help out with his stress issues. I’m just not sure about him being on display.”

Rowan made a noise of agreement before starting off to explore the rest of the enclosure with the others in tow. Overall, he approved of things since it heavily reminded him of the jungle he encountered while originally hunting to Murder. Admittedly, it paled in comparison to Sorna, but he felt it’d be a ton better than the pen Murder currently lived in. “I think he’ll love it.” He turned to Owen as he adjusted the sling for his arm. “What’s the building look like?”

“I haven’t been in there lately, to be honest. I just saw the early construction, but I do know it’s going to be themed around Utahraptors and basically talk about the known prehistoric information about them. Pretty sure there’s gonna be a skeleton, too.” Owen started heading towards the loading gate. “I insisted that there be some sort of sign put up that explains about him being wild.”

“Good.” Kaitlyn looked up at some sort of bird fluttering in the tree above them. “The last thing I want is for people to bitch because he decided to hide.”

“You’re still going to get people that do that.” Rowan noted.

“I know, but still.”

The building smelled heavily of fresh paint, but Rowan found himself gawking like a child at the zoo. Around him, the building had been themed around the idea of a jungle and had been painted to match. The display boxes dotted around the building had different teeth, claws or bones housed in them. The centerpiece of the main room drew his eyes immediately: a life-sized replica of a Utahraptor skeleton daintily balanced on one foot with the other kicking out to slash at some unseen foe.

He drifted to a painting on the wall that showed an artist’s rendition of a pack of Utah’s hunting. The blurb next the painting talking about theorized hunting behavior and likely prey. Turning around, he spied the observation area and walked over to it while Owen loudly nerded with Kaitlyn about the skeleton behind him.

The sign that hung on the wall next to the massive observation window made him snort. The top had the name ‘Alpha’ in big, blocky letters with a chibi, green headed raptor on either side of it, complete with anime ‘^_^’ eyes. Briefly, he rolled his eyes at the absurdity of it. He wandered closer to the sign, in order to read the blurb.

_I’m Alpha, and am not only Jurassic World’s only Utahraptor but also the only male dinosaur in the park. Isn’t that neat? I was found on Isla Sorna on March 15 th, 2018 and moved here to the park. Because I’m wild, I don’t always feel like being seen. Sometimes, it makes me pretty nervous to see so many people every day. :(_

_So, if you can’t see me, try the skywalk! I might just be trying to stay cool under the trees or by the waterfall. If you do get to see me, here’s some quick stats!_

_I’m estimated to be about 15 years old. Since Utahraptors are thought to live for close to 60 years, I’m barely an adult!_  
_I weigh 2500 lbs/1134 kg, am 22’4”/6.8m long, and am 6’/1.8m tall at the shoulder. I’m pretty big for a Utahraptor!_  
_My big toe claw is 11”/28 cm. Wowza! If you see me tapping it on the ground, it usually means I’m thinking or I saw something interesting._

Rowan snorted and walked to the glass where he tapped it. “How thick is this, Owen?”

“A foot. They gave him the same thickness of glass they gave Rexxy.” Owen joined Rowan and lightly pushed on the window, then nodded to himself in satisfaction. “He’s more likely to seriously injure himself than get through it.”

He nodded at Owen before turning and heading to the observation window that overlooked the public shelter. Next to it hung a sign, ‘People You Might See with Alpha’, with a picture of him, Kaitlyn, and Owen along with a short blurb on their experience. Owen had been listed as ‘Senior Raptor Trainer’, Kaitlyn the ‘Head Carnivore Veterinarian’, and Rowan as ‘Utahraptor Handler & Keeper’.

Kaitlyn made a face at the picture used for her blurb. “Why’d they have to use our ID pictures for that? I look hung over.”

“Were you?” Rowan glanced over to the vet who snickered and looked away.

“ _Officially_ , I was recovering from the flu. But…Yes. I celebrated both getting my license and getting my dream job…” She briefly trailed off. “…With a whole fucking bunch of tequila shots.”

Rowan cackled. “There you go! You two done poking around? I wanna see the skywalk.”

After the two confirmed, Rowan all but ran to the skywalk and peered through the windows as he passed them. The trees had been planted in such a way that they seemed thick from the ground, but were spaced to allow easy viewing from the top. Likely, they’d be able to see Murder on the ground, but he wouldn’t be able to see them.

When they reached the building again, Rowan couldn’t stop grinning. “It’s perfect. Do we have an estimate on when they’re wanting to move him?”

“They’re hoping for the end of the week.” Kaitlyn replied. “Since he finished his rut and has calmed back down, they’re just about ready for him. It might be earlier, though. It just depends on when they finish with the security system and get it tested.”

“So, plan on the end of the week but be prepared for sooner?”

“Pretty much.”

Rowan relayed the information to the hybrid after hauling him out for some pizza. “I don’t know the details of how they’re planning on doing the move just yet, but they’ll probably sedate you.” He grimaced at the unhappy sound Murder made from across the table. “I know. I know. I’ll be there every step of the way. I promise. They probably won’t let me in the enclosure since you have a history of being pissy when you wake up…But I’ll be up there on the wall catwalks until you wake up. I promise.”

Murder still didn’t really like the idea of being sedated, but he knew he didn’t have much choice in the matter. Finally, he nodded. “Go out before move?”

“I can try. It’ll be the last chance you have for a while…But I’m serious. I think you’ll be a lot happier.” Rowan abruptly shut up when he saw Owen making his way through the crowd. Then, he hissed to Murder. “It’s Owen. Don’t make a scene, please.”

He didn’t bother to hide his unhappy look when Owen stopped by the table. “Are you stalking me?”

“Just making sure you don’t do anything dumb. Kaitlyn insisted.” Owen glanced at the other man sitting at the table, the same one from two weeks ago that he’d seen in Rowan’s apartment. For whatever reason, the guy caused a part of him to twist up in fear. The same sort of feeling he’d gotten in his gut when he first met Alpha so many months ago.

When the man turned his head slightly to eye him, the feeling only got worse…The contacts didn’t help, either. Although, they looked just a hair bit too real. Owen suddenly felt like an annoyed predator had decided to stare at him and currently entertained the idea of swatting him like an annoying fly. He felt the _exact_ same way around Alpha sometimes…

Briefly, he wondered what Alpha would look like as a human, and honestly? The guy in front of him hit every checkbox and then some, but that’d be preposterous, right? Then again…InGen kept a lot of things in the dark about what they’d done and everything about Alpha and Rowan remained a guarded secret. Everything from the NDAs and how Rowan still refused to talk about what’d happened on Sorna. Plus, the matter of Alpha, himself, and his incredible intelligence…He shoved the thoughts out of his mind and looked to Rowan. “Who’s your friend?”

“Adam. He’s been here on vacation but he’ll be leaving here in a few days.” Rowan tried to keep from sounding nervous, and hoped that any nervousness that leaked through in his voice would be chalked up as being unhappy about a ‘date’ being interrupted. “Look, I’m kinda busy…So…”

Owen discreetly glanced over the food, but focused on what Adam ate: pizza with cheese, chicken, and black olives with a cheese stuffed crust and a side of chicken wings. Everything, down to the lemon pepper topping on the chicken wings were what Rowan claimed to be Alpha’s favorite pizza.

Sure, it _could_ be coincidence, but…This would immensely complicate things and unfortunately? It’d explain everything with Alpha if he could somehow become human. It didn’t help that he caught a faint whiff of _raptor_ coming off the man when the breeze shifted. He forced a pleasant smile. “Yeah, sorry about that. Kaitlyn just worries about you. I’ll let you get back to it. See you tomorrow.”

Ten minutes later, Owen looked into the breakroom of the enclosure. Oddly enough, Rowan had left his backpack on the table. He hesitated and opened it since it felt a bit wrong to go through the other man’s things. Inside, a shirt…One large enough to fit ‘Adam’. Again, coincidence…He stepped out of the breakroom and turned the corner to the shelter. Empty. Not unusual since Alpha didn’t always sleep in the shelter during nice nights. Still…He started for the walkway access door and paused at the sight of the pen access door unlocked…And slightly ajar.

He hesitated again before unclipping the flashlight from his belt and pushing open the door. Briefly, he shined his light around, but didn’t see any eyes reflecting the light. So, Alpha either had his eyes closed or his back turned. “Alpha!”

Only insect life returned his call. Sighing, Owen stepped into the pen and tried to swallow his fear as he searched the pen. When he returned to the access door without finding Alpha or any sign of him, his stomach twisted up at the very obvious implications.

Sure, maybe everything had just been a massive coincidence, but over the months he’d concluded that Alpha couldn’t be just a simple raptor. Owen had seen the intelligence in his eyes, intelligence that surpassed anything that Blue had. He supposed if Rowan knew the truth about Alpha, that it’d explain the reason for his protectiveness and why he got by with so much.

Still…If the raptor did have true human level intelligence then everything about him being at the park was morally and ethically fucked. Not to mention the fact that InGen likely played a role in his creation…Which Owen didn’t even want to think about since it’d open up yet another can of very, very nasty worms.

“Jesus Christ, Ingen…What did you make?”

Murder wandered alongside Rowan as they entered the building, but he suddenly clamped his hand over the other man’s mouth when he caught a scent. He ignored how his hand was tugged at and shushed Rowan before finally dropping it. Then, he quietly hissed, “Owen was here.” He followed the scent to the access door and scowled when he found the slightly fresher scent outside. “Searched pen.”

“…Shit. Christ, I hope he didn’t figure things out.” Rowan sent Murder a worried look. “Let’s get you back in before he comes back and hope to hell he doesn’t ask questions in the morning.”

Rowan anxiously waited for the ball to drop, but nothing happened. In fact, Owen acted as if everything were normal. His only acknowledgement of the prior night had simply been to ask if Rowan enjoyed himself. It made him wonder if Murder hadn’t been playing a trick on him but…The hybrid had seemed incredibly serious. Finally, he decided to just ignore it for the time being and focus on the task of getting Murder moved into his new pen. After discussing things with the hybrid and getting his input on things, Rowan presented the ‘idea’ to Owen and Kaitlyn of getting Murder used to the transport cage by feeding him in it.

“If he gets used to it and associates it with food, we should probably be able to get him inside pretty easily on moving day. We should probably keep the ACU activity to a minimum until he’s locked inside.” Rowan commented as he picked at his lunch.

“Agreed. The ACU will just tip him off that something’s happened.” Kaitlyn nodded. “Can you pen him up tonight so we can get the shipping cage installed in the loading area?”

Rowan nodded. “Not a problem. Honestly, as long as food’s involved, he’ll do just about anything.”

This caused Owen to snort. “I’m surprised he’s not overweight with the amount of junk food you shovel into his mouth.”

“Easier to outrun a fat dinosaur than a lean one.” He grinned but shrugged. “I found something he likes and I’m taking advantage of it.”

Kaitlyn made a quiet noise as she took a bite of her sandwich. “If anything, the extra calories from the junk food helped him recover faster after he got sick. Oh, Rowan. Suggestion for you. Why don’t we put some of the bedding from his shelter into the cage? It might help him get used to it faster if it smells like him.”

“We could do the same with his new shelter, too.” Owen perked up at the idea. “The more things smell like him, the faster he should settle in.”

“I like that idea. His shelter’s due for a cleaning anyway. So, we can jut bag up the shavings instead of shipping it to the refuse pile.”

“Sounds like a plan. I just hope the move doesn’t stress him out.” Kaitlyn frowned. “He’s had a lot of things happening lately, but at least this move is going to be the last major stressor for a while.”

After being told the updated plan, Murder went through the motions of ‘getting used’ to the transport cage. At first, he avoided it, hissing and barking at it till he finally got hungry ‘enough’ to warily investigate the smell of blood. Then, he slowly became ‘used’ to it until he ‘eagerly’ waited outside of the cage door and waited for it to open. He hated the dumb act, but needed to make things convincing…Especially if Owen thought him to be anything other than a raptor.

The night before the big day, Rowan showed up to quietly inform him of the game plan. “They’re going to cut open a steer outside of the cage since you just run in, now. Once you’re in, the gates gonna close and the ACU will sedate you.” He sighed at Murder’s annoyed huff. “I know, I know. Just make it look good without hurting yourself, alright? Once you’re knocked out, they’re gonna transport you to the new pen. The gate should be open when you wake up. I’ll be up on the catwalk above the loading gate to keep an eye on everything…And I’ll be on the truck transporting you. I won’t let anything happen to you, promise.”

Murder quietly nodded and eyed the shelter door. Despite knowing the details of the plan, he still felt anxious about the whole idea. Sure, he loved the idea of a bigger pen, but he couldn’t shake the anxiety. Finally, he lightly nudged Rowan’s hand with his snout and tried to make his feelings clear, facially. Gently, the man scratched along his jaw, promptly Murder to close his eyes after a moment.

“It’s alright. I’m kinda nervous too. It’s a big change, I know. I’ve seen the enclosure though, man. You’ll love it, I swear. There’s a big ole pond with a waterfall for you to splash around in, and the trees are pretty thick so you can hide if you get overwhelmed by all the visitors. They’re not gonna open up the exhibit immediately, either.” Rowan brushed his hand over the ridge over Murder’s eye. “You’ll get time to settle in and get used to the routine. When they do open it, you’re only going to get small groups of people each day for a while. Kaitlyn made sure of that. I’ll let you know when they start opening it up, though.”

Softly, Murder rumbled and shifted himself to put his head in Rowan’s lap, but lifted it when the man made a slight noise of pain. He made an inquisitive noise and tilted his head curiously.

Rowan smiled slightly and poked the hybrid’s nose. “Your head’s heavy.”

This news caused Murder to huff but lay his head down next to Rowan’s leg. A moment later, the man rested his arm on his neck and lightly scratched between his eyes. “It’ll be a bit chaotic tomorrow morning, but it’ll be alright in the end.”

The next morning, Murder wandered out of the shelter and saw a small group of people at the transport cage. After a moment, he scented the blood from the steer and inwardly grimaced at what would happen in the next few minutes. He couldn’t balk, couldn’t hesitated, couldn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Softly, he huffed and ignored the building anxiety in his stomach as he trotted towards the now open cage. Unsurprisingly, the cage didn’t have any food and when he turned around, the gate came crashing down in front of him.

Pretending to be startled, he launched himself forward at the gate and his eyes watered from the impact. The bite of the tranquilizer darts in his flank, though expected, still made him flinch. Unfortunately, one ACU soldier had gotten a bit close to the cage. Murder felt it to be quite characteristic when he lashed out with a hand towards the man. Even as the world grew fuzzy and dark, he felt satisfaction at the screams for a medic as the soldier choked on his own blood.

Rowan didn’t really feel happy about Murder killing someone, but he _had_ told the hybrid to act natural and…Well, what could be more natural than him killing someone after being tranqed? He worriedly hovered while they loaded the cage, despite reassurances from Kaitlyn and Owen. While he knew everything would go well due to the team being experienced at transporting dinosaurs, he just couldn’t help but worry.

Only when Murder’s cage had been unloaded and the door opened did most of Rowan’s worry dissipate. Now, he simply had to wait for the hybrid to wake up. As he waited, he eyed one of the ACU soldiers, Steve Terrence. The man had been the leader of the ACU group to the mission to Sorna and the one to inform Rowan that InGen had only hired him to be bait for Murder.  It probably pissed the guy off that not only had he survived, he’d become the caretaker for the being they’d been sent to capture.

When the hybrid groggily stumbled out of the cage, Rowan leaned forward against the railing, whistled, and waved his arm. “Hey, I’m up here!”

Murder shook his head with a frustrated noise to try and clear the post-sedative haze from his mind as he unsteadily lurched out of the cage. The sound of Rowan yelling caused him to look up, but before he could respond, a man behind his packmate almost casually shoved him over the railing. He could only watch as Rowan fell, briefly yelling before hitting the ground with a _thump_ that caused Murder’s stomach to twist. Rowan didn’t move.

Still a bit unsteady, he quickly moved over to Rowan and nosed him over onto his back. Unconscious, but alive. Above him, he knew the ACU soldiers were preparing to shoot. He moved around the human at his feet, making it risky to shoot, but he focused on the gate where Owen and Kaitlyn stood. Both shared horrified looks. Murder made an alarm call, trying to get one of them to try and help.

Above him, someone yelled to take the shot, prompting Murder to look up but someone else demanded that they wait; he looked back to Rowan and the two humans outside the gate. Rowan still hadn’t moved. Again, he made the alarm cry but this time added Rowan’s call to the end.

Owen ducked away from the gate and went to the back of the transport cage to open the door.

“Owen, he’ll kill you!”

“No, he won’t, Kaitlyn.” He dimly recalled saying much the same thing to Rowan, months ago. If his suspicions about Alpha were right…He ignored the fear that boiled in his stomach has he approached the raptor. While he knew Alpha didn’t know his hand signals, he knew the creature could _act_ and understand him. He held up his hand, “Alpha, back up.”

Murder stared at Owen, wide eyed and looked to Rowan before looking back. Owen stepped closer to him and spoke softly. “I need to get him out of here and to a hospital. I’ll let you know as soon as I get news…Just for the love of God, listen to me.”

He stared at the man for a few short seconds before softly chittering and bobbing his head. Then, he took a few steps back, fulling knowing he’d be sedated. As soon as he felt the bite of the darts, he spun around and bolted till he hit the ground.


	12. Revenge

_I have lost One before,_   
_I refuse to lose This One,_   
_My fury and hatred will be known._

The plaintive bleating of an animal slowly stirred Murder out of sleep. Then his stomach rumbled, loudly, which only further awakened him. Carefully, he moved onto his stomach and came face to face with a white goat. It flicked a long, floppy ear and stared at him before bleating in his face. Next it made a muffled scream when his jaws suddenly snapped down on its head, neck, and upper body. Hungrily, he ripped into the goat and downed the animal without much issue. He still felt hungry when he finished, but his stomach didn’t churn quite as angrily now.

Quietly, he looked towards the loading gate; everyone had already left. He made a soft, whining warble of concern. The injury to Rowan’s arm, while serious, hadn’t been too life threatening…But the fall…He made another soft noise and shifted his attention to the idea of exploring the enclosure to focus on something less worrying. Owen had said he’d bring information back as soon as he learned it. The man had done so with Rowan’s prior injury and so Murder didn’t have a reason to think things would be different.

As Rowan had promised, he found himself pleased with the enclosure. They’d made it considerably larger than his old pen and there were many more hiding spots. Though, the waterfall and pool in the corner reminded him far too much of the one in front of the cave where he’d spent so many years of his youth. He closed his eyes and bowed his head at the memory of him and Michael playing in the water during the summer heatwaves. Then the memory of the other hybrid’s death bubbled up, unwanted. The bleeding that wouldn’t stop, the shallow and labored sounds Michael made as he took his final breaths, the feeling of him going limp when he died.

Murder’s eyes snapped open as he growled. Michael had died years ago and nothing in the world would change that, but as far as he knew, Rowan still lived. While he didn’t see the human in the same light as Michael, he’d still grown absurdly attached to him. As he trekked back towards the front of the enclosure, his mind churned over the events earlier in the day. The ACU soldier behind Rowan had pushed him, but Murder hadn’t gotten a good look at his face nor had he caught a scent. Meaning he couldn’t do anything at this point to enact revenge. It’d be as futile as clawing at water and hoping to make it bleed.

When he arrived at the observation area, he peered towards the glass, certain that he’d seen movement. Curiously, he walked over and tilted his head. There. Kaitlyn. Softly, he chirruped and wondered if she’d heard him. Since she didn’t seem to respond, he lightly ran his claws over the glass and occasionally tapped them against it to listen to the sound. Finally, he turned and continued his explorations. This time, he found the shelters. One had an observation area and seemed to be more for exams or baths, if the coiled-up hose in the corner said anything.

He passed through the open gate into a more secluded shelter. This one had a closed gate and reminded him of the shelter at the old pen, just larger in size. He snorted softly as he sniffed around the shelter; the shavings smelled like him…And Rowan. Sighing, he kicked things around and laid down before tugging the blanket over so he could lay his head down on it. It didn’t really smell like Rowan anymore, but it had just enough scent left. While he worried about Rowan, he couldn’t do anything and had to wait for Owen. As much as he disliked the man, he still trusted him to bring him news and so, he waited.

A week passed without any news and with each passing day, Murder’s worry got worse. Sure, he still ate, but he wanted to keep his strength up. He wouldn’t be able to enact revenge if he went weak from hunger. The size of the enclosure gave him plenty to explore and that helped ease his rising anxiety…But the longer he went without news the more he worried about Rowan.

After dinner, he returned to his shelter and found Owen standing at the bars. Softly, Murder made Rowan’s call and tilted his head. Rather than replying, the man somberly held up a bag of food from the chicken place Rowan often bought from. Murder’s heart sank and he went wide eyed, then made a soft whining warble as he took a step back.

“Alpha.” Owen spoke softly. “Come here, please. I have news about Rowan…The food’s because I’ve been busy bouncing between here and the hospital.”

Hesitantly, Murder walked back to the bars but blinked in surprise when Owen sat down with his back against the bars, then stuck his hand between the bars to offer food. While his hand trembled, the man had firmly set his jaw. Finally, Murder laid down and gingerly took the chunk of chicken. Owen seemed to relax a small bit.

“It’s just us. Kaitlyn yelled at me till I agreed to go home.” Owen quietly laughed. “Obviously, I came here. I…Look. I know you’re not just some raptor and I’m _damn_ sure you’re that Adam guy Rowan’s been hanging around. How…You’re even able to do that is beyond me. I just know that InGen did something, I don’t know what, but it’s just completely against everything.”

Owen didn’t miss the quiet hitch in Alpha’s breath. He turned his head slightly to look at the raptor who had a slightly concerned expression. “Now. Am I right, or have I gone paranoid from sleep deprivation?”

Murder considered things for a long few moments before finally nodding. Owen’s expression turned grim and he rubbed his forehead. “Ah, fuck me. I really didn’t want to be right about things.” He held his hand behind him to offer a bit more food, having remembered what Rowan had said about rewarding Alpha for good behavior. “Uh. The news about Rowan isn’t that good.”

This caused Murder to stop chewing the food and stare at the back of Owen’s head. The man looked down at his lap. “He’s pretty fucked up. Broken ribs and a punctured left lung. Had brain swelling to the point they had to drill a fucking hole in his skull and put him in a chemical coma. They…” Owen tried and failed to keep his voice from cracking from emotion. “They still don’t know if he’ll make it and if he does, if he’ll come out of the coma.”

Softly, Murder warbled then pressed the top of his head against the bars with a stuttered inhale and coughing exhale. He still didn’t know who’d pushed Rowan and didn’t know if Owen could find out. Then he felt the light touch of Owen rubbing the top of his head, followed by rustling of the bag.

“…I did find out what happened, took some digging. It’s another reason why it took me so long: I didn’t want to show up with only bad news. Rowan was pushed off the catwalk by this guy named Steve Terrence. He was part of the ACU unit that went to Sorna. I don’t know the relation or why he wanted to kill Rowan but…” Owen held a crumpled jacket up to Alpha’s nose. “I…Had him and a couple of his men transferred to the enclosure ACU unit under the reasoning that they’d have a good idea of how to handle you since you might be on the pissy side with everything that’s happened.”

Murder inhaled the scents that covered the jacket then discarded Owen’s scent and the scent of the food. When he’d isolated the scent he wanted, he opened his jaws slightly and pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He wanted to commit it to memory.

Softly, Owen spoke again. “I trust you’ll handle everything, Alpha.” The murderous sounding snarl that came out of the raptor caused him to flinch despite the knowledge of being safe. “I’ll let you know about Rowan as I find out information. I’m just…I’m just hoping that I don’t get the call saying he died.”

Murder simply rumbled quietly as Owen got up to leave. With the new information, he needed to think and plan. After a bit, he got up and wandered into the jungle portion of the enclosure, every now and then, he’d make a low moan to see how the enclosure altered the direction of the sound. Most of his planning would have to wait till morning…He needed to see where the cameras were at. Still, he already had the start of something.

Over the next few days he worked on his plan and began pretending to be stressed out. While he paced the enclosure calling for Rowan, he took note of where the cameras were and where the best places would be to hide. He ignored the goats when they were in the opening, acting as if he’d gone off food. Instead, he waited until they wandered into the jungle. There, he killed and ate them in the blind spots of the cameras.

After several days of pretending to be stressed, Murder decided to put his plan into action in the early morning hours. Using one of the blind spots, he clawed open his left shoulder and curled his lip at the pain that radiated away from the injury. He sucked in a deep breath and _screamed_ as loud as he could then bolted towards the front of the enclosure. It’d been ages since he’d ran this hard and his lungs ached thanks to him being out of shape, but the anticipation of his plan succeeding drove him to push himself.

Right before he hit the window, he dug his feet into the soil to rapidly slow himself down. He still ended up slamming his shoulder into the glass with a painful thump, but it allowed him to kick against the wall to knock himself over. Murder wanted it to look like he’d hit the glass at full speed and bounced off. He laid there a moment as if stunned and tried not to grin at the blood smear on the glass.

When he stood, he held his head at an angle then listed to the left as he walked. Murder allowed himself to fall over onto his side where he flailed and made all sorts of distressed sounds before he finally got back up. He stood there a moment before wandering into the jungle, trying his damnedest to stumble and sway as if injured. Then, he waited.

Owen groaned when his phone went off and groaned again when he saw who’d called him. Considering how Alpha had decided to start stressing all of a sudden, he could only assume the damn raptor had done something. “Yeah Kaitlyn?”

“It’s Alpha.” Kaitlyn’s voice wavered a bit. “The cameras caught him slamming himself into the observation glass…But when he got up he just kept falling over. I’m rounding up everyone because we need to get into his pen to see how bad he is. All I know is that he left blood on the window, I don’t know from what.”

Initially, Owen figured Alpha had pulled some trick, but the more Kaitlyn talked, the more he worried. “I’ll meet you at the pen.”

When he reached the pen, he joined Kaitlyn, Steve, and several other ACU soldiers. Kaitlyn led the way and Owen grimaced at the dried blood on the glass, then the obvious signs of struggle. Maybe it hadn’t been a trick, after all. “This doesn’t look good…” He walked alongside the vet and pointed at several instances of struggle on the ground. “Might have hit his head and messed up his balance…ALPHA!”

Murder had patiently waited in a camera blind spot. It’d bored him half to death, but he kept his mind on his goal. He had a specific prey that he wanted to hunt and a successful hunter tended to be patient. Eventually, it paid off when he heard Owen yelling for him. Softly, he made a pleased rumble before making a noise that easily passed for the sound of a dying animal. Then, he got up and skirted around the cameras to a different area.

Owen grimaced at the noise from deeper into the enclosure. “…That doesn’t sound good.”

“Oh God, not Rowan and now Alpha…” Kaitlyn chewed on her lip.

Murder carefully lured them deeper into the enclosure before finally making a particularly pitiful noise that blatantly said ‘I’m dying’. He needed to separate Owen and Kaitlyn from the ACU…Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to get to Steve. Kaitlyn ended up doing it for him.

She looked to Steve. “You. Head back to the building and call the main vet department. I’m going to need more people here.” She ignored the eyeroll the man gave her. “These rest of you, come on.”

He drew his lips back into a grin as he skirted past the group and followed Steve as the man tromped away from the group. Since the man had slung rifle over his shoulder, Murder doubted he had anything to fear. As the jungle thinned slightly, he purposely stepped on something to cause noise. Steve froze. Murder lowered his head over the man’s shoulder and opened his mouth slightly to make a low, throaty clicking sound.

“…Clever boy.”

Snarling, Murder twisted his head to the side and snapped his jaws down onto Steve’s midsection, prompting the man to scream. Then, he threw the man down on the ground, knowing he’d only have a few moments to exact his revenge. Quickly, he slammed a foot down on the man’s chest and bit down on his right leg before twisting his head to the side then jerking his head back. The ripping of flesh and Steve’s screams only fueled his anger. Behind him, he heard yelling. Murder snapped the man up in his jaws and bolted to another area of the enclosure.

Steve’s screaming caught Owen completely off guard. He turned towards the sound, but when he heard Alpha snarl, he knew the raptor had played them all. Barry had always compared Alpha to Muldoon’s Big One with how he plotted and planned and pushed what he could get by with. Owen hadn’t realized how correct his friend had been until now.

“…Jesus Christ…” He glanced at Kaitlyn when she stepped closer to him as the ACU soldiers took off towards the yelling. Then he took her arm and tugged her away from the now mobile screaming. “He’s going to be busy with them. We need to get out of the pen.”

By the time Steve had stopped screaming, Murder had reduced him to little more than a head on a torso. As a final touch, he simply gutted the remains and left them there. Now, he had to deal with the rest of the ACU’s in the pen. Likely, they knew everything about him…And if he ever planned to get off the island, the fewer people that knew about him, the better. He stalked after the four and noted the loose group they were in; two in front, two behind.

Slowly, he slinked after them before darting past the group and snatching the one that lagged behind in his jaws. Rather than toying with him, Murder killed him quickly. Likely, the ACU command had already sent out reinforcements, which meant he had to wrap things up fast. Circling back around behind them, he pounced the middle man and then spun to the right. This meant he knocked one man to the ground with his head, and the other his tail. Without missing a beat, he pounced onto the man he knocked down with his head before turning around to the same to the final man. All three were still alive, but the gurgling sounds they made said they wouldn’t last long…Their crushed chests and broken spines would see to it.

Softly, he rumbled and started off after the remaining two humans. It didn’t take him long to find their scent trail, circle around, and pop up in front of them. Kaitlyn made a frightened noise and clamped a hand over her mouth. Even Owen looked tense. Murder tilted his head to the side, then quietly chirped. After a moment, he simply wandered past them on his way back towards the waterfall. Behind him, Owen sighed.

When they reached the front of the enclosure, a group of ACU soldiers had just entered. Owen raised his hands. “We’re fine.” He couldn’t say the same for Steve and his men, but he _had_ told Alpha to ‘handle it’. “If you guys are going back there to retrieve the bodies, I’m going with you. He’ll attack you otherwise.”

“Owen. He’ll kill you.” Kaitlyn grabbed his arm.

This caused Owen to shake his head. “He popped right up in front of us…He could have killed us, but he didn’t. You know just as well as I do that he doesn’t like ACU soldiers. Besides, I need to see how bad his injury is.”

She glanced towards the soldiers before sighing, “Then I’m going with you.”

He gestured at the ACU soldiers. “I think the main group was killed over there.” He pointed, then made a vague gesture. “Steve was…Everywhere. I’m not sure you’re going to find all of him.”

Slowly, the soldiers worked on bagging their dead and Kaitlyn grimaced at the gore. “He didn’t eat them though.”

“No…This wasn’t because he was hungry…He was angry.” Owen spoke softly, but then froze at the soft clicking that almost seemed to circle them. Alpha had already become extremely familiar with the pen, apparently. “HOLD YOUR FIRE!”

He glanced towards the soldiers who’d shouldered their weapons, an action that caused the clicking to turn into a snarl. “Lower your fucking weapons. If you shoot him, he’ll kill every one of you before he goes down. You are making yourself a threat. Lower your rifles and drop your eyes.”

The soldiers exchanged glances and one by one lowered their rifles…Except one. He kept tracking the growling that circled around the group. Owen looked over at the man. “Soldier, that’s an order. Lower your rifle.” Then, he softly added. “Just because you think he’s there, doesn’t mean he is.”

Murder pounced. Thanks to the angle, he only knocked the soldier down with his chest, but it achieved his goal. He put a foot on the man’s back to keep him pinned down while he snarled at the other soldiers when their rifles went back up. Owen ducked between Alpha and the ACUs. “Lower your rifles, drop your eyes. DO IT!”

Once they’d done so, Owen turned to face the raptor who still had the whimpering man pinned down. “Alpha…These aren’t the ones that caught you. Come on, back up.”

He grimaced at the sound of Alpha’s toe claw tapping against the soldier’s chest armor. The raptor had never displayed the characteristic behavior he’d always expected from the species and it’d lulled him into a false sense of security over time…But presently…Alpha _terrified_ him. Now, he truly lived up to his name and it made Owen wonder how he’d ever seen the raptor as anything but a dangerous predator. Carefully, he stepped towards the raptor, making sure he didn’t look him in the eyes. Owen liked to call himself the alpha raptor, but that title didn’t hold true in this pen. It belonged to the raptor in front of him.

Sure, he knew Alpha could somehow turn into a fucking human and could understand him perfectly, but sometimes actions spoke louder than words…And Owen tried to speak the best raptor he could. If he did nothing, the men behind him would die, and if he did the wrong thing, they’d still die. He swallowed his fear and touched the top of his head against Alpha’s snout, showing himself as a subordinate to the raptor. Owen tried not to flinch at the hot breath that ruffled his hair and prayed he wouldn’t suddenly see teeth closing around his head. After a moment, the man at his feet scrambled away when the raptor’s foot moved away from his chest.

Then, Alpha turned and began walking away before looking back at him and Kaitlyn and making a soft noise. Gently, Owen took Kaitlyn’s arm to start following after the raptor. He glanced at the soldiers. “Do not follow, get the bodies, and get out. Have ACU command call me when everyone’s clear of the pen.”

Murder finally stopped walking at the waterfall and turned to face the two. Curiously, he tilted his head; both humans looked stressed. Honestly, he felt pleased and hoped he’d caused them to feel a small bit of the stress he had over the past few months.

Kaitlyn finally looked to Owen. “What the hell was all that about?”

“…I basically told him that he’s the boss. If I didn’t do something, he was going to kill them. As long as he stays with us, the ACU soldiers can do their job. Plus, we can look over his shoulder.” He gestured at the claw marks.

She sighed and dropped the bag she had slung over her shoulder onto the ground. “I don’t know about examining him like this.”

“Kaitlyn, if he wanted to kill us…”

“…He would have. I know. I’ve…Just never seen him act like that.” She crouched down and started digging through the bag to find what she needed.

“Steve pushed Rowan off the catwalk…And I think Alpha saw it. We’ve always kept the soldiers on his pen for two weeks before rotating them out…So…” He looked to the raptor who’d turned to get himself a drink.

“Christ, and so he went full pissed raptor on everyone.”

“Yup. Plus, he’s finally in a pen big enough for him to actually act like a raptor. And without Rowan here to keep him in line.” He sighed. “He’s going to a handful because I think Rowan’s the only one he considers an equal. But I think he likes us well enough not to kill us.”

Kaitlyn stood up and grimaced at Alpha. “Well. I’m ready to look at his shoulder.” She stiffly stood there as Owen called the raptor over and carefully, she began examining the claw marks. When Alpha turned his head to bump his nose against her hip, she froze. Then she sucked in a breath when the raptor started lightly lipping the pocket of her jacket. “…Owen…”

“Do you have something in your pocket?” He moved over to try and carefully push Alpha’s head away from Kaitlyn.

“My protein bar.”

“Sorry, that’s his now.” Owen pulled the half-eaten bar out of her pocket and finished unwrapping it before offering it to Alpha. Greedily, the raptor snapped it up into his mouth but spat it out seconds later, then gave the two an absolutely offended look. “I don’t think he liked it.”

“Well, maybe he won’t try to eat my food.” Frowning, she stood up on her tip toes to try and see the top of Alpha’s shoulder. When the raptor abruptly laid down, she squawked and jumped back. She let out a shaky sigh and crouched down to better examine the injury. “Christ. Okay, well, it’s not too deep. Owen, grab me to the bottle of saline. It should be on the top. Actually, grab that packet of gauze, too, and open it up for me.”

Once she had her requested items, Kaitlyn worked to clean away the dried blood to get a better look at the injuries. “It looks like the middle one could use some stitches. He nailed himself pretty good. There’s a local anesthetic spray down in the bottom. Grab it. Then there’s a suturing kit over in that side pocket.”

Owen passed the items one by one and kept a close eye on Alpha. The raptor didn’t seem to care and almost acted as if he’d had someone doctor him up before. It made him wonder about Alpha’s past and with the knowledge he could shapeshift, he questioned if calling him a raptor could even be considered appropriate. He didn’t have anything else to call him…And he didn’t know if he wanted to delve into that particular rabbit hole. Still, Alpha would be here at the park for the foreseeable future and Owen felt that he’d need to make things accommodating as possible.

The idea of essentially keeping the raptor as a prisoner didn’t sit well with Owen. A lot of things didn’t sit well with him, actually. They’d run tests on him, poked, prodded, and treated him like an animal. Owen hadn’t been innocent of it, either. It explained so, so much about how Alpha had behaved and…Christ. He’d tried to train him. No wonder Alpha had reacted the way he had: he probably felt degraded. Because the damn raptor _could_ show emotion. He’d shown anger, stress, happiness, playfulness, and Owen couldn’t rule out any of the higher emotions.

They needed to talk, and Owen knew Alpha could at least say Rowan’s name…But he wouldn’t be able to change because of the cameras. As he watched Kaitlyn work, he tried to come up with a solution. Maybe the tablet? No, the keyboard would be way too small but…Scrabble. He could use scrabble tiles. Alpha making a low grunt pulled him out of his thoughts. “What happened?”

“The anesthetic is only good for a few minutes at a time. Could you spray the spot again for me?” Kaitlyn asked as she squinted at her stitching.

“Sure.” Once he’d sprayed the injury, she resumed her work.

Owen jumped when his phone rang. Sighing, he pulled it out of his pocket and glanced at the caller ID. ACU Command. “Owen.”

“The ACU team that was assigned to the pen have cleared out. You _do_ realize it’s against protocol for you to be in the pen.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Look, I’m in the middle of dealing with stitching up an injured dinosaur. I’ll call you later.” He abruptly hung up on the dispatcher and pocketed his phone.

Kaitlyn laughed, “Taking a page out of my book?”

“I just wanted them out before he killed them.”

That evening, Murder lightly napped after dinner. His shoulder ached and felt bruised, but he felt the injuries worth it in exchange for killing Steve. Footsteps from the hallway caused him to open his eyes and he sleepily focused on Owen. The man hesitated before swiping a keycard and opening the small walkthrough gate to get into the shelter. There, he sat down and pushed over a small personal pan pizza.

“…I want to talk.” Owen said softly as he spread a dark blue towel over the shavings and dumped out a bunch of scrabble tiles. “I thought about using a tablet, but figured it’d be too small for you.”

Murder paused in eating the pizza and looked over at Owen. Softly, he made a raspy snort of uncertainty. Then man in front of him ran a hand though his hair and looked away before sighing.

“Look. Like I said, I know you’re not a raptor and…You can turn into a human…Somehow. That alone says to me that InGen did something they shouldn’t have and it’s wrong to keep you here. It was…It was wrong for me to do all the tests I did. I can claim ignorance, but I’m still fucking guilty and…I’m sorry. For everything.” Owen looked up at Alpha. “You shouldn’t be here…You’re basically a glorified prisoner. It’s just…I can’t wrap my mind around it, but it explains everything about you and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. I’ve tried for months to ignore the gut feeling that InGen did something but I can’t anymore.”

He sighed. “Or maybe the stress of everything is just getting to me.”

After a moment, Murder drew his arm closer to himself and focused hard. The limb suddenly made a soft creaking pop as the bones began to shift and rearrange themselves into something more human. It took effort and concentration to do it, but when he felt he’d gotten the point across, he allowed the limb to return to its prior state.

Owen stared at Alpha’s arm as it briefly twisted into something resembling a human arm and felt the bile trying to rise up in his throat. He closed his eyes and whispered, “Jesus Christ.” After letting out a harsh exhale he opened his eyes and stared at the raptor. “…Okay.”

Leaning forward, Owen arranged a few of the tiles so they had ‘yes’ and ‘no, for the sake of ease. “I’ll try to just ask yes or no questions unless you feel up to pointing out words...If you know how to spell.” The snorted growl caused him to hold up his hands. “Hey. I know jack shit about you. Alright…First question. Is Adam your name?”

Murder pointed at ‘no’. Then he cocked his head to look at the tiles before picking out the letters he needed and arranging them as ‘Murder’.

“Murder?” Owen frowned. “Is that what Rowan calls you?”

Again, he pointed at ‘no’, and then spelled out ‘Adam’.

“So, Rowan calls you Adam, but Murder is your name?” When the raptor indicated ‘yes’, Owen sighed. Murder, then. It felt weird, since he’d called him Alpha for so many months. “But are you fine with being called ‘Alpha’?”

He gave a slight nod when Murder indicated ‘yes’. “…Did…” Owen hesitated, unsure of how to ask his next question. “Were you made in a lab, like the dinosaurs in the park?”

Murder considered this for a long few minutes, trying to decide how to answer. Finally, he poked ‘yes’ then ‘no’ before he hunted for the right tiles.

Owen curiously watched Murder, but the words that he spelled out caused his heart to skip a beat. ‘Was human’. “Oh…Fuck.” He looked up at Murder. “You…They did something to you and turned you into this?”

Again, ‘yes’ followed by ‘no’. Once more, Murder picked through the tiles to attempt to explain. ‘human can change’. Then, he looked to Owen.

“You’re usually human, but you can change into a raptor?” When Murder nodded, Owen rubbed his face. “Sorry for repeating what you’ve said. Just trying to make sure I have it right. How’s Rowan involved in all this?”

‘Ingen hunter rowan bait to die’.

“…InGen hired Rowan to hunt you.” Owen recalled there being mention of other mercs who hadn’t survived the island. “But they hired him to bait you out and he wasn’t meant to get off the island?”

Murder nodded.

“That explains why Steve tried to kill him.” He didn’t know what to think, besides Barry being right. Closed door meetings and secrets that shouldn’t see the light of day, indeed. “All your…Freaking out. Is that because you didn’t know what was going on?”

After indicating ‘yes’, Murder hesitated before jumbling the scrabble tiles and spelling out another short sentence. ‘Was scared on island for years’.

Owen could understand the behavior if Murder had been completely uprooted. “Were you alone?”

‘yes’

Bit by bit, the pieces fell into place. Everything had started to make sense with Murder’s behavior. He’d been uprooted from what had essentially been his home for only God knew how long. Then he’d been alone…Only to get shoved into what amounted to being a prison cell where he’d been poked, prodded, and experimented on without knowing a damn thing about what had happened. Essentially, they’d subjected him to their every whim or desire while treating him like a damn animal. Christ, they’d essentially tortured him.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Owen looked up, feeling immensely guilty and horrified at everything. If Rowan knew the truth, then no wonder the guy had been so desperate to protect Murder. “I…Is everything with the pen okay? Do you mind eating the goats? I…”

Murder cut him off with a quiet chittering laugh. ‘Pen good goats fun hunt but small cow first last’.

“Okay. I’m glad you like the pen. Kaitlyn and I fought for a lot of the changes. The goats are because they’re trying to get you used to smaller more frequent meals since part of the visitor interaction is them being able to pool money to ‘order’ food for you to eat. It was popular with the T. Rex.” Owen thought for a bit. “What about a yearling cow for breakfast and dinner?”

After considering the suggestion, Murder nodded. ‘Pen open’.

“I don’t know when they’re going to open it. I haven’t heard anything, yet. When I do, I’ll let you know.”

‘Rowan’.

Owen looked down and shook his head. “Nothing new with him. The brain swelling went down, but they still have him in a coma. They’re talking about trying to pull him out of it next week but…They still don’t know if he’ll wake up. I’m sorry, I wish I had better news.” Looking back up, Rowan gestured at Murder’s shoulder. “How’s your shoulder feel?”

‘Sore’.

“Do you need anything for it?” When Murder shook his head, Owen gave a nod. “…Burning question. How’d you get the scar on your leg?”

‘Shot in bone cut it out’.

Owen didn’t even need to ask for clarification on that one. He simply grimaced at the idea. “What about the ones on your back?” He looked up and gawked when the raptor, honest to God, _smiled_. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

When Murder shook his head, Owen rolled his eyes and figured he’d asked enough questions for the time being. “Well. It’s getting late and you’ve had a busy day. I’ll try to swing by in the evenings with food and so we can talk, if you want. I’m not going to tell anyone about this, either. It’s shit that could get us both killed.” Or rather, him killed and Murder treated like a lab rat. Quickly, he gathered everything up and slipped out of the shelter. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Murder.”

The drive home saw Owen churning over everything in his mind and it made him seriously wonder about the ethics of the company he worked for. If they’d created Murder, from a _human_ , several years ago…Then what else had they cooked up in their labs?


	13. Into the Fire

_Chaos around me,_   
_Blood and fear and death,_   
_I will use it to my advantage to be free._

Time passed slowly for Murder as he settled into the new enclosure. Owen had suddenly become a staunch ally and often brought him news from the world around him. While he enjoyed Rowan’s company immensely, the man had often kept him in the dark about the going ons in the park. Owen didn’t, which he appreciated immensely. Frankly, Murder didn’t know if Owen wanted to do it, or if he had decided to try and buddy up as a means of repentance for his actions. Whatever the case, he liked being brought the information. Unfortunately, Owen rarely had the information that truly mattered to Murder: Rowan’s improvement.

Each time the man arrived, Murder quietly made Rowan’s call and would always get a headshake as a response. It honestly made him wonder if Rowan hadn’t died and Owen simply hadn’t told him. Every evening when Owen brought the bag of scrabble tiles, Murder always picked out the letters to spell out ‘see rowan’, but the man refused to say anything about the matter. He just wanted to see Rowan, even he remained in a coma. Something. Anything that said he still lived. Murder’s patience with Owen had begun to run thin and while he knew the trainer respected him, he didn’t feel that he respected him enough.

A week about the ACU Incident, at Owen called it, Murder eyed the scrabble tiles in front of him. Debating if he should ask about Rowan again. He honestly doubted that he’d get any usable information. Softly, he huffed and twisted his head to get one of the curly fries to his left.

“They’re going to open the exhibit starting Monday from 10am to 5pm…It’s Friday, right now. It’s not going to be completely opened, but they’re opening it to small groups of people…Maybe twenty or thirty at a time, but the groups are going to be split in two: one on the walkway and one at the window. You’ll only see a group an hour.” Then Owen snorted. “The tickets went on sale today and they got sold out for the next week within two hours. They’ve already got pictures of you up on the website as their newest ‘coming attraction’.”

Murder simply grunted and finished off the curly fries before looking at the scrabble tiles again. He actually didn’t mind the idea of being on display since he had plenty of places to hide. The other pen had almost nothing and he always felt exposed. Finally, he picked out letters and spelled out ‘see rowan’.

Owen sighed. “We’ve been through this, Murder. There’s nothing new with Rowan.”

Grumbling, Murder got up to his feet and moved to the waterer behind Owen to get a drink. Then, he narrowed his eyes at the man as he rearranged the scrabble tiles. Looking back to the waterer, he twisted his head and suddenly splashed water onto Owen, completely soaking the back of the man’s shirt. Angrily, Owen stood up.

“What the fu–“ Owen suddenly saw stars when Murder knocked him into the corner with his head. Immediately, he ducked to the left with the plan of getting out. Unfortunately, the raptor had anticipated that and easily pinned him. Owen struggled to breath between Murder’s hip and the cement wall. Wide eyed, he stared as the partially opened mouth got closer to his face.

He’d actually done it. Murder had managed to terrify Owen. He scented the tangy smell of fear that came off the man and delighted in how Owen gasped for air like _prey_. That’s all humans really were to him, anymore. Soft, fleshy things that could be so easily broken. He could easily kill Owen right here, right now. Just lean against the wall a little harder till all the delicate bones went snap, crackle, _pop_. However, Owen still had a great bit of use…He just hadn’t given Murder the single bit of information he needed.

He curled his body around so that his head hovered over his hips, then, he softly made Rowan’s call. As added emphasis, he snapped his jaws causing Owen to flinch as they nearly grazed his nose. Finally, he turned and stalked out of the shelter, leaving the man to sag to the ground behind him. If that hadn’t gotten his point across, he didn’t know what would.

Owen sat there in the shavings and rubbed his chest as he tried to calm his pounding heart. Murder had made his point perfectly clear and he doubted the raptor would be as ‘nice’ next time. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been much to report. The doctors had finally pulled Rowan off the ventilator and out of the chemical coma, but the man hadn’t woken up yet. Either way, it looked like he needed to make a trip to the mainland.

It really didn’t surprise Murder when Owen didn’t return the next night or the night after. Either he’d gotten spooked or he’d gone to do as Murder had requested. Admittedly, he would have enjoyed some company to help soothe the anxiety over the opening of the exhibit. He’d asked about the interior of the build and had gotten to see pictures of it. Truthfully, it seemed to be the sort of place he would have loved as a child. While he’d been more interested in movies and video games, every child had a thing about dinosaurs.

The soft bleating of a goat stirred him out of his sleepy thoughts and he yawned before watching it wander away from the delivery system. Breakfast had soothed most of his hungry, but he still felt…Munchy. But as Owen had told him: the smaller meals were to encourage him to hunt and thus put on a show for the visitors. Unfortunately for them, he felt lazy at the moment. He pushed himself up slightly and saw the faces pressing against the glass.

The goat bleated again before looking towards him as he settled back down against the tree. It perked its ears forward and let out an alarmed bleat before starting to back away. Now, if the thing had just shut up, Murder wouldn’t have cared…But the thing _wouldn’t shut up_. Rumbling, he pushed himself up and stalked deeper into the jungle, but paused mid step as a beautiful idea came to mind.

Turning back around, he looped through the jungle and lingered at the edge. Several people pointed at him wildly, but his focus remained on the goat: it hadn’t seen him yet. Crouching down, he slowly stalked forward towards the animal. The visitors expected hunting related carnage. He planned to do something entirely else.

The goat froze, having finally caught his scent. Unfortunately, it’d done so far, far too late. Murder suddenly swung his head into the animal’s side as hard as he could. The goat screamed as it went flying, then hit the glass window with a very loud and solid _THUMP_. Murder felt a bit surprised that the damned thing had bounced a bit when it hit the ground. The response from the visitors? A variety of screams and yells. He rumbled in amusement and stalked over to sniff of the goat. Quite dead.

Leaning down, he grabbed its head in his jaws and slammed the body into the window. More screams. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump-crack! The window held firm, if a bit bloody; the crack had been the goat’s hip breaking. He dropped the goat and rolled it over before picking it back up to start bashing the other side against the window. Unfortunately, the goat’s neck had gone through enough trauma and the head simply popped off. He spat it out against the window and delighted at the noise it made upon contact.

Only then did he start eating and felt pleased that the majority of the larger bones on the goat had been broken. It made it easier for him to rip apart. As he lazily gnawed on one of the legs, with it half hanging out of his mouth, he tilted his head to peer at the visitors. Apparently, they’d enjoyed the show and seemed disappointed when the park worker shooed them away, only to usher in the next group. By this point, Murder had lost interest and turned to meander to the back of the enclosure. There, he hung out around the waterfall till early afternoon.

Quite honestly, he would have lingered around the waterfall longer, but the rumble in his stomach finally drove him back to the front of the enclosure. It annoyed him a bit. Had he been on Sorna, he would have killed something and lingered around the kill until he finished it or it became too rank for him to touch. Admittedly, he liked the constant fresh food…Just not the quantity.

He supposed that he shouldn’t complain too much. After all, he’d frequently lamented his inability to hunt back in the pen. For the time being, he’d have to roll with things. Up ahead, he heard the next unlucky goat bleating. Lightly, he tapped his toe claw as he considered how to approach the hunt…Not that it could really be called a hunt. He could outrun the goats, kill them easily, and they posed no harm to him.

Finally, he simply charged out of the jungle and ran the goat down. While it flailed and tried to get back up, he grabbed it by the neck in his jaws then repeatedly slammed it against the ground till he felt its neck snap. He turned his back to the observation window and tried to ignore the humans that he knew were gawking at him as he ate. After eating half the goat, he looked towards the loading gate where Rowan fell a few weeks ago. He just wanted the man back.

Murder ended up retreating to the jungle after he finished the goat and remained there till the dinner steer had been delivered. Warily, he slinked out of the jungle and eyed the observation window. People were still there. Softly he hissed before going after the steer. He quickly ate and this time retreated to the shelter. There, he laid down and began anxiously picking at his shoulder. While the idea of being on display hadn’t be bad, initially, as the day had continued on it had become a bit too much. He liked his privacy.

Owen sighed when he turned to corner and saw Murder had picked at his shoulder bad enough that it’d started bleeding. He didn’t know much about the raptor, outside of what’d happened at the park, but supposed his mental state couldn’t be considered anywhere near the textbook definition of ‘healthy’. How much of it came from being penned up and how much just happened to be Murder he didn’t know. He tried to calm his nerves as he walked to the metal bars. “Murder.”

He glanced at Owen a moment and simply made a quiet noise as he focused back on his shoulder. Being so used to having company and then suddenly having it gone hadn’t been easy. Then came the anxiety and compulsive thoughts that followed with it. Murder had found it scarily easy to fall back into a self-destructive habit. It took him a moment to realize someone had started to tug on his head. Blinking, he found himself staring at Owen and wondered when the man had gotten into the shelter.

“Rowan’s not going to like it that you’ve started hurting yourself.” When Murder curled his lip in irritation, Owen held up the tablet. “No face time, but I have a video for you.”

Murder’s mind stuttered to a halt. His eyes flicked from Owen’s face to the tablet and back again. Then, he quietly chirped as Owen sat down to fiddle with the tablet. “I’ll warn you…He doesn’t look to good. They still have him pretty heavily drugged.”

He focused on the video of Rowan and felt his stomach twist up. Rowan had been connected to machines that monitored his heart, pulse, blood pressure, and temperature. Several IV bags ran lines down to his arm and the side of his face had turned an ugly green from a healing bruise. He slowly rolled his head to the side as he tried to focus on the person recording the video. From off camera, Owen spoke. “Alpha’s being pretty cranky without you. Can you say something to help me out?”

Rowan’s eyes slowly drifted and he managed to mumble out something, then lightly flopped his uninjured arm over his stomach. He slurred something else out and finally spoke two words, “Dumb lizard.”

The soft whimper Murder made caused Owen to wonder if showing him the video had been a bad idea. “Hey. Hey. Look. He’s doing better. He’s waking up and he’s talking. That’s good.” He tried to attract the raptor’s attention and felt his gut twist at the distraught look he received. “I know he’s looking pretty bad still, but they have him on a lot of different medications to keep him out of pain. They’re saying that he might be able to leave in another couple of weeks. He’s lucky to be alive and it’s just going to take time for him to recover.”

Murder shifted his head to start back in on his shoulder but Owen grabbed the top of his snout and tugged it back towards him. “Murder. Stop. I know you’re attached to him, but hurting yourself isn’t going to bring him back faster. It’ll just make you miserable in the long run.” Owen struggled to come up with something to say and wondered how Rowan managed it. Then he wondered if Rowan always spending the night had to do with keeping Murder mentally stable. Finally, he sighed. “You don’t like being alone, do you?”

After a moment, Murder shook his head. He used to think he could handle it fine on the island, but then he’d realized just how much he’d missed being touched and having someone with him. Truthfully, he relied on Rowan a great deal more than what he cared to admit.

Owen sighed and looked down at the tablet in his hands. How many times had he shown up to the old pen to find Rowan watching Netflix with Murder? “If I hang out with you and watch a movie with you, will you stop chewing on yourself? Or do I need to call Kaitlyn to shove something down your throat?”

Murder curled his lip at the idea of Kaitlyn being called, but he huffed, nudged the tablet, and then nodded. This caused Owen to smile slightly. “Before we do that, can you tell me what has you upset? I don’t have the scrabble tiles with me, so I’ll just have to ask yes or no questions.”

Again, he nodded. At this point, he’d take any distraction to help pull him away from his thoughts.

 “Rowan?” Another nod.

“Is it the enclosure being open?” A nod.

“Too many people?” Murder considered then tilted his head in an attempt to convey indecisiveness.

“But did you have a problem with the people?” Nod.

“Too frequent?” A headshake.

“Arrived too early?” Another headshake.

“Stayed too late?” A very vigorous nod.

“Was it the ones that were around at dinner?” Another nod. “Alright. Those I didn’t know about until after it happened. They decided to allow staff in after hours for a chance at viewing. I’ll try to talk them into only allowing a group in instead of running it until you have dinner. I can’t make promises, though. My hands are pretty tied, unfortunately.”

Murder huffed but nodded and then very likely touched the corner of the tablet with his nose. This caused Owen to mutter a bit before he flipped through the apps. “I have no idea what you like to watch. How do you and Rowan usually do this?”

To Owen’s surprise, Murder stood up and turned around before moving behind him. This just caused him to stiffen up in mute fear, which only got worse when the raptor laid down behind him. Instead of an attack, he only heard the harsh exhale of something large getting comfortable. That being said, Owen flinched to the side when Murder damn near shoved his head into his lap to get a better look of the tablet screen. After a moment, he poked at the search bar with a knuckle to highlight it. When the keyboard came up, he nudged Owen’s arm and used a claw to point out the letters he wanted to be typed in. Of all things, ‘Batman’.

“Batman fan, huh? Got good taste.” He slowly scrolled down the list and raised an eyebrow when Murder indicated ‘The Animated Series’. “Really good taste. Though, I guess you’d be old enough…? Wait…How old are you anyway?”

Murder thought for a moment and shook his head. He didn’t know the month. Finally, he just gestured with his hands in hopes of getting the point across to Owen. He opted to gesture out the year instead of his full birthdate.

“One, nine, nine, zero….1990?” When Murder nodded, Owen blinked. “Twenty-eight. How long were you on Sorna?”

Owen half expected for Murder to have been on the island since birth, or maybe gotten there as an adult who simply had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Two, zero, zero, one. He closed his eyes, seventeen years, which meant Murder had been eleven. A child. No wonder he had as many problems as he did. “Let’s just watch the cartoon, yeah? You probably don’t want to talk about that stuff anyway.”

Murder huffed out a grunt and nodded before laying his head down to watch the cartoon. It gave him something to focus on and allowed him to ignore his current issues. Finally, he felt himself beginning to get drowsy, so he stretched out and started to doze off. At least, until Owen tried to get up. Quietly rumbling, he hooked the back of the man’s jeans and tugged him back down. He ignored the wide-eyed look Owen gave him and simply closed his eyes again.

“I...What…I’m not spending the night! You’re an adult!”

Once more, Murder opened his eyes and flexed the fingers of his hand so that the blunt part of his claws pressed into Owen’s back. The man grimaced and sat down. “Well, when you put it that way…”

Owen woke up feeling stiff and briefly confused until he realized where he’d spent the night. Sighing, he looked over to Murder who still slept, then, he looked over to Kaitlyn who had a heavy frown. “I didn’t have much choice. Yesterday stressed him and when I checked on him after diner, he’d started picking at his shoulder again.”

“So, you pulled a Rowan?”

“I pulled a Rowan.” Slowly, he pushed himself away from the raptor who made a sleepy noise and lazily stretched out his legs. “He did good up until the batches of staff came to see him. I think that started stressing him.”

“He’s a massive hit and the first batch of visitors loved his entrance.” She passed Owen a tablet. “This is a video someone submitted. The park is doing a contest called ‘Awesome Alpha Action’ where visitors upload their favorite videos or pictures of him for a chance to win a cash prize.”

Owen took the tablet and tapped play, then watched the video of Murder knocking the goat into the window. He grimaced slightly at the blood, but handed the tablet back. “If he keeps that up, I want weekly inspections of the window for integrity.”

Kaitlyn nodded and looked to Alpha who had started to get up. “Do I need to do anything with his shoulder?” She frowned at the maze of new scars that had accumulated on the raptor’s shoulders during his time at the park, most of which were his own doing. “It doesn’t look deep, but I can’t tell.”

“He made himself bleed, but it’s not too deep. I think part of it is because Rowan’s in the hospital.” He sighed and gestured at Murder when the raptor made Rowan’s call as he looked over. “Between the new exhibit, him being gone, and going on exhibit, I think it’s just a lot for him.”

“I tried to get them to push back the opening date to let him settle in more, but they insisted.” She looked to Owen. “Are you going to be able to manage him and your girls?”

“I told Barry about what’s going on with Rowan and everything with Alpha. We agreed to scale back the Squad’s training to twice a week and only work on reinforcing what they already know until Rowan gets back. I’ll be handling that early in the morning while Alpha eats and has his post meal nap before the exhibit opens.” He glanced to the raptor as he left the shelter. “I wanted to be here yesterday, but I didn’t get in till late because Rowan woke up.”

“He did?!” Kaitlyn swiped her key card to let Owen out. “Is he able to talk?”

“A bit. They still have him drugged up so he doesn’t hurt himself, but he’s mumbling and called Alpha a ‘dumb lizard’. They still don’t know how he pulled through…They honestly thought he was going to die. Right now, they’re just worried about an infection of some sort since his temperature keeps spiking, but all his labs are coming back clean and his white blood cell count is fine.”

“That’s strange. A fever _would_ indicate infection of some sort, but if the cultures are clean it’d be viral…But a normal white blood count rules that out.” She frowned. “Maybe it’s pain related, but I don’t know. How high’s the fever spiking?”

“It’s nothing too major. Maybe 100 or 101? That’s what I saw while I was there. Doesn’t last long, either. Maybe an hour or so and then it drops back down.” Owen shrugged and started making his way up to the main building. “I’m just happy the fucker is going to make it.”

Having Owen around helped Murder’s anxiety, but he still worried about Rowan, despite the trainer’s reassurances that the man continued to improve. Honestly, he wouldn’t entirely believe it till he saw Rowan in front of him. That being said, Owen gave him a wide berth if he could manage it and Murder knew he’d shaken the man up a great deal over the past few weeks.

If he had to put on a daily show for visitors and entertain them, then he would demand respect from those around him. He did as he wished and attempts to tell him otherwise only resulted in him doing what he’d been told not to do. Despite his attitude, he still asked Owen each night about Rowan and always received nearly the same answer. Even after a month and a half, the hospital hadn’t decided to release Rowan yet, despite the man improving. Murder simply figured the injuries had been that severe, but he didn’t know how much longer he could wait.

Murder spent the late morning wandering the enclosure and doing more raptory things…Mostly scent marking the trees. He knew he didn’t have to, since he remained the pen’s sole occupant but it helped satisfy the base need to claim the place as his own. However, as the temperature steadily climbed with the sun, he opted to lay down in the shade in an attempt to stay cool. Finally, he stalked over to the waterfall and all but flopped into the water. The deepest part of the pond only came up to his belly, but it helped cool him off drastically.

He ducked his head under the water and briefly listened to the muted, turbulent sound of the waterfall hitting the pond surface. After lifting his head, he snorted the water out of is nose and slowly moved towards the front of the enclosure; his stomach had started to grumble a bit. Then, he froze when he heard two rapid barks. Murder stood up tall and barked in reply, only to be answered again with two more barks. He swore he caught the scent of _Rowan_.

Murder bolted towards the front of the enclosure, swearing to himself that if it were a trick, someone would die. When he broke through the trees, he saw Rowan being supported by Owen. He didn’t slow down until mere feet from the two men; Owen had taken a step back but Rowan stood unbothered. Murder circled once, snapped at Owen to get him to back up further, and wedged himself between the two men so that he could half curl around Rowan.

Tiredly, Rowan leaned against Murder. “Hey, you big dumb lizard. Heard you’ve been stirring up shit.”

Softly, he purr-snorted and lightly pressed his head against Rowan’s chest, then closed his eyes as he felt the man scratch the side of his head. While still clearly injured, Rowan had returned. Slowly, he raised his head and gently sniffed of the side of the man’s head where the hair had been shaven. He tilted his head and made an inquisitive noise.

“Yeah, good to see you too.” Rowan lightly batted at Murder’s snout. “That’s where they put a hole in my head…As if I didn’t have enough already. I won’t be doing too much since I’m still having trouble walking but…Yeah. I’m back…But I’ve been hearing that you’ve been a massive shithead towards Owen. Go apologize.”

This caused Murder to hiss and pull his head away from Rowan. Then, he blatantly ignored the order, even when the man elbowed his side. As an afterthought, he flicked his tail at Owen, prompting the man to duck it. His action earned him a swat to the noise and a quiet scolding.

“He’s not going to, Rowan. I…Basically told him that he’s the boss in order to save some ACU guys. It’s fine. As long as he doesn’t try to kill me, I don’t care.” Owen inwardly grimaced at the memory of being pinned against the wall a few weeks ago. He hadn’t told anyone about it. “I have an idea. It’s pretty hot today and we’re in the middle of a heatwave. Why don’t you take him into the observation shelter and hose him down?”

“I don’t really like the idea of him bossing you around…” Rowan glanced at Owen with a concerned expression.

“He’s been living up to his name since he got in here. Figure that he finally has enough room to stretch his legs and be a raptor. Honestly? I’m just happy he’s out of the old pen. He seems a lot happier…We’re actually going to move the girls into his old one once they finish sanitizing the whole thing. I’m sure they’ll love the bigger pen.” Owen briefly squinted at the sun. “But seriously. You need to get out of the sun.”

Murder allowed Owen to get closer in order to help Rowan to the shelter, but he kept a critical eye on the two as he drifted after them. Once inside the shelter, he immediately felt better; the shelter seemed to be several degrees cooler than outside. He didn’t hesitate to lay down to press his stomach against the cool cement. A moment later, Rowan sprayed him with lukewarm water, prompting him to glare a bit at the man.

Slowly, Rowan sat down on a stool next to Murder and used a scrub brush with a long handle to start ‘cleaning’ him. In reality, the hybrid didn’t really need it, but it made for a good show and seemed to help with his slight moodiness. “I’ll take over for you and hang out with him at night.”

“No, you won’t. You need to rest and finish healing.”

“Gonna stop me?” Rowan glanced up at Owen who grinned.

“The gates all use keycards and they haven’t keyed your ID badge yet. So, the only way you can get in is with me or Kaitlyn’s help.”

Rowan scowled. “Did you do that on purpose?”

“It was more that management didn’t know if you were gonna live. You’re still, officially, on sick leave.”

When Murder shifted onto his side, Rowan poked at his foot. It always felt weird to do this, knowing the truth about the hybrid. So, he always tried to avoid the more ‘sensitive’ areas, since he didn’t know how Murder would take it. Plus, he couldn’t really ask permission with Owen right next to him. “I just don’t want him to freak out.”

“I don’t think he will. He’s gotten to see you and he knows you’re back. Seriously Rowan, he’s smarter than any of us gives him credit for.” Owen didn’t really know if he should tell Rowan that he knew the truth about Murder. It’d help them put a better care plan together, but…Maybe it’d be better to ask Murder’s opinion about everything.

Unfortunately, Owen didn’t get a chance. Rowan insisting on being around Murder every waking moment of the day and practically moved into the shelter. On top of that, Owen had shifted back to training the Squad and dealing with Hoskins slinking around the girls like a damned vulture. Thankfully, the man had been spooked away from Murder due to the combined efforts of Rowan, Kaitlyn, and surprisingly, Claire. The price tag attached to Murder with his capture, care, and the enclosure had totaled something very, very pricey. Claire wanted the park to recoup the most profits and it wouldn’t happen if Hoskins lurked around the enclosure, upsetting the newest ‘asset’.

Rowan, meanwhile, continued healing and picked up more and more of Murder’s care. To his annoyance, Murder delighted in terrifying the crowd in various ways. If anything, once the hybrid had fully settled into the enclosure, he’d started enjoying the attention given to him.

He leaned against his rake and looked towards the observation window where several people were taking selfies. There, Murder had decided to photobomb the selfie by opening his mouth, pressing his tongue against the glass, and holding his hand against the window so he could flip everyone the bird. While completely ludicrous, Rowan found it absolutely hilarious. Someone else decided to take a selfie and Murder angled himself so that it appeared that he had attempted to eat their head. After a bit, the hybrid seemed to get bored and wandered away.

Rowan just shook his head and went back to work picking up the bones. A short while later, he heard a soft rustling behind him and caught Murder ‘hunting’ him out of the corner of his eye; the crowd banged on the glass mutely to try and get his attention. The first time the hybrid had done it, Rowan had about pissed himself until he realized that it’d all been for show: Murder like performing for the crowd because they rewarded him with food. He rolled his eyes when he heard the sudden heavy footfalls of the hybrid running towards him. Sighing, he turned around. Only for Murder to run-by grab his hat.

“YOU FUCKING COCK!” Rowan yelled and quickly shifted into Spanish as he stomped after Murder who’d already darted into the jungle. “I got work to do, you fucking lizard!”

The undergrowth rustled to his right and Murder zipped past to stand by the wheelbarrow where he chitter-laughed. However, his attention shifted to the building when a musical chime sounded before a pre-recorded woman’s voice spoke pleasantly.

“An anomalous event has occurred at the park and all rides, attractions, and enclosures are now closed. Please make your way to the central plaza for further instructions. We apologize for this inconvenience.”

Rowan joined Murder and gently took his hat from the hybrid as the message repeated in different languages. “That’s weird. Never heard that message before.” He put his hat on and pulled out his phone to dial Kaitlyn. “Hey, is that alarm message spamming for you?”

“Yeah. It’s park wide. They have a new carnivore up in the northern part of the park that escaped her exhibit thanks to a gate malfunction. They’re closing all of the attractions as a precaution. Just hang tight in Alpha’s pen, you should be alright. I’m up here at park command overseeing the capture in case the new girl hurt herself.”

He glanced at Murder for a moment. “Have you been able to get a hold of Owen?”

“No, I haven’t, but you know how he turns off his phone when he’s working with his girls. Actually, no, there he is. Hi Owen. Rowan? I’m on the phone with him. Where he always is.” Then she quietly whispered, “Mute your phone. I’m putting it on speaker.”

Rowan muted his phone and also put it on speaker so Murder could listen, as well. After the ACU unit encountered the dinosaur, all hell broke loose and Kaitlyn’s phone faintly picked up the sounds of the soldiers dying. Then, she spoke angrily. “What the hell kind of dinosaur is that?”

Owen spoke softly, his voice tight and restrained. “A hybrid.”

“What do you mean a ‘hybrid’? Aren’t all the dinosaurs in the park hybrids of some type?”

“No. Kaitlyn. She was custom made. She never existed until they made her.” Owen’s voice had shifted to something angry.

“…Well… _Fuck_. And she clawed out her tracking device.” She went silent for a half second. “Owen, you can’t go out there…Aaaand he’s gone.”

Rowan’s stomach twisted as he looked up at Murder who had a similar expression. “Christ…”

“Rowan, still there?”

He unmuted his phone. “Yeah. What’s the plan?”

“Stay there. If push comes to shove, you can hide in the employee access tunnel under the building. I gotta go for now.”

Once she hung up, Rowan looked to Murder. “I think I might be able to sneak you out in the chaos. Do you still want to leave?” When the hybrid nodded, Rowan grinned slightly. “I’ll be back. I need to go get you some clothes. I’ll be careful, don’t worry.”

By the time Rowan returned to the enclosure, the evacuation order had been sent out. He swiped his card and opened the gate before unzipping the backpack to start pulling out clothes. “I broke into the security room for the building and managed to kill the cameras, so there won’t be any evidence.” He stood up and handed a t-shirt to Murder. “Park’s going down the shitter.”

“Rowan? Why haven’t you left?” Kaitlyn stood at the corner and stared at Rowan, baffled on why he had clothes in his hands…And why Alpha held a shirt in his claws. “What’s going on?

“I can’t leave him in here to die.”

“I get that. It’s why I’m here to release him, but…Why’s he holding a shirt?” She stopped at the gate and raised an eyebrow when the two exchanged a glance.

“I’m gonna have to tell her man. There’s no way around it.”

“Rowan! What’s going on?” However, her mouth snapped shut when the raptor _nodded_.

“The dinosaur that escaped today wasn’t InGen’s first hybrid…Not by a long shot. I…It’s why I went to Sorna, they wanted to capture him because I’m pretty sure he _was_ their first.” Rowan gestured at Murder, then sighed and looked back to the hybrid. “Well, go on, Murder. We’re burning time.”

Kaitlyn could only gawk as the raptor’s form twisted and contorted down into a large, nude man with shaggy dark hair and a heavy beard. The only hint of his former form were the vividly green reptilian eyes. He pulled on the shirt and grabbed the pants from Rowan to also put them on.

“This is Murder. Owen might have mentioned him as Adam.”

She gawked for another few moments and rubbed her forehead. “Yeah, Owen mentioned an Adam, teased that he was your boyfriend. Look. You gotta get off the island. I…Jesus. Are you taking him with you?”

“I am. What about you?”

“I volunteered to stay behind for the moment to help out. I’m going back up to command.” She stepped to the side as ‘Alpha’ passed her.

Rowan glanced away for a moment before dragging Kaitlyn into a tight hug. “Stay safe.”

Despite everything having gone to hell, Rowan managed to get both of them to the docks without any issue. There, the last few remaining visitors huddled. After sitting down to wait for the ferry, Murder pressed his face into Rowan’s neck to drown out the smell of fear and blood, prompting the other man to wrap an arm around his waist.

“You alright?” Rowan asked softly.

“Fear.”

“You’re scared?” He lightly squeezed the hybrid.

“No. Them.”

Rowan glanced at the people around them and then grimaced, imagining that Murder had picked up on the different smells. He really didn’t know how all that worked, but decided not to ask.

When they finally reached the mainland, the sun had just started to peek over the horizon and Rowan tiredly rubbed his face. Next to him, Murder still leaned against him, but had dozed off. He sighed and watched the doctors move from person to person. Then, he spotted Owen and briefly hoped to go unnoticed, but the raptor trainer headed over. Rowan forced a faint smile. “Hey, Owen.”

Owen felt relieved to see Rowan and Murder safe. For the first time, he finally got a good look at Murder’s human form. He still had no idea how the whole shapeshifting thing even worked. “How’s he doing?”

“Well, you know. Nearly got ate by dinosaurs at an amusement park that was supposed to be the safest in the world…I wouldn’t be surprised if he sues.” Rowan kept up the act of Murder being human, but shifted his attention to the man in question when he moved a bit as he started waking up.

Murder opened his eyes and glanced at Owen who’d raised his eyebrows slightly. Finally, he sighed and sat up a bit straighter before speaking quietly. “He knows.”

“What?” Rowan glanced between the two.

“Murder told me while you were in the hospital after the move.” Owen kept his voice low. “I won’t tell anyone. Just…Let me know if you need any help, alright? You know how to get a hold of me. If…Kaitlyn made it off, you might tell her, too. You can’t take him to any regular doctor if he gets sick.”

Rowan sighed and nodded. “Alright. Thanks, Owen. For everything.”

“Take care of him, Rowan.”

“I will.”


	14. Epilogue: The Urban Jungle

_A new world to explore,_   
_New sights and smells and wonders,_   
_I feel terrified._

Murder didn’t particularly care for the plane ride to LAX. It brought up memories of fear and death from a time long ago. So, he clung to Rowan like a child, the sole thing that kept him grounded during the entire flight. When they finally landed and begun to exit, he barely restrained himself from bolting off the plane. He wouldn’t have gone far, anyway, the sudden assault to his senses stunned him. The stench of pollution, hot tarmac, exhaust. A constant, low noise of civilization. The monochromatic world of steel, polluted blue-grey skies, and cement around him.

Gently, Rowan tugged his arm and led him into the terminal. There, Murder ducked his head and hunched up his shoulder. He could adapt, could survive, he knew to fight, to win, and could navigate the dangers of the dinosaur infested jungle with ease. This, though. This he didn’t know how to handle and the foreign feeling of _terror_ bubbled up; he struggled to breath.

“What’s with him?” The worker at the desk gestured at Murder as she finished paperwork.

Rowan glanced at Murder who looked like he’d hyperventilate at any moment. “We just finished a six-hour flight. He really, really doesn’t like flying and they lost his anxiety meds.”

The worker offered a sympathetic look. “Ah, man, sorry to hear that. That’s rough. Well, enjoy the rest of your day.”

As they continued to the front of the airport terminal, with a brief stop at an ATM, Rowan ordered an Uber and gently touched Murder’s arm. “We’ll get out of here, soon. Would it help if we go outside?”

“Don’t know.” Murder sucked in air through clenched teeth as he followed Rowan. He knew nothing of this world anymore and knew he’d have to rely entirely on the man beside him.

Thankfully, his anxiety lessened once they got out of the airport and into a SUV. The driver started out as being chatty till Rowan interrupted him. “Hey, man. Any other time I’d love to chat sports, but my buddy here doesn’t like flying and we just got done with a long ass flight. Just…Pipe down for the trip, I’ll give you five stars, and I’ll slip you a twenty.”

“You got it, dude.”

The city gradually shifted to more of a suburban area with perfectly manicured lawns, guarded by stay at home moms who hawkishly watched the neighborhood for anything that might break the home owner association rules. Compared to the other homes with their expensive planted gardens and pink flamingos, Rowan’s house stuck out as something…Plain. He unlocked the door and opened it, then grimaced at the pile of mail that’d accumulated on the floor over the past year and some odd months. “Ugh. Dusty in here.”

Murder stood off to the side and fidgeted after Rowan had closed the door behind them. While the house smelled stale and dusty, a low undertone of _Rowan_ remained. Normally, he found the scent comforting, but now it put him on edge: he’d stepped into someone else’s territory. “Where go?”

“Uh, there’s a spare bedroom you can stay in.” He tugged at Murder’s arm to lead him further into the house and opened a door to show a cluttered room that’d obviously been used for storage. “Everything’s kind of a mess right now. I just used the room for storage, but…Give me an hour or so and I can get it cleaned up for you.”

He remained hunched up as he followed Rowan through rest of the house while the man pointed out everything of interest. Once they returned to the living room, Murder stood there and looked around, unsure of what to do.

Rowan sighed. “Murder, this is your home now. Make yourself comfortable. It’s gonna be a bit weird for the first few days while I get everything in order. Look. It’s been a busy past few hours. Why don’t you take a nap.” He gestured at the couch and recliner set. “I’ll order a pizza for when you get up.”

The idea seemed good enough and so Murder pulled his shoes, then curled up on the couch where he lightly chewed on the knuckle of his thumb. He really didn’t know if this would be better than the park, but…He didn’t have much choice and he trusted Rowan.


	15. Taming of the Raptor

_I._  
_Though my wings are clipped,_   
_My fury still burns bright,_   
_A fire forever untamed._

II.  
 _Survival of the fittest is my creed,_  
 _Fighting tooth and claw to live,_  
 _But can it truly be called living?_

III.  
 _While echoes of a memory fade,_  
 _I stare at blue skies through iron bars,_  
 _and wonder ‘is it worth it?’._

IV.  
 _I never claimed to be a saint,_  
 _I won’t deny being a sinner,_    
 _but I willingly marched into hell._

V.  
 _At the edge I stand,_  
 _The void sings to me,_    
 _Do I step over or turn away?_

VI.  
 _Through tired eyes I watch,_  
 _Patience is a necessity,_    
 _My freedom will roar again._

VII.  
 _Nothing more than a curiosity,_  
 _They watch me with glee, a circus animal_  
 _I will remind them of my power._

VII.  
 _Alone but with a companion,_  
 _Yet his life is so fragile,_  
 _A mere mouse to my lion._

IX.  
 _The scream echoes and twists_  
 _And it replays in my mind,_  
 _The guilt is unbearable._

X.  
 _Echoes of the past and Another,_  
 _But the past is dead and buried,_  
 _This new One is mine._

XI.  
 _The new home is expansive,_  
 _No longer can I see the walls,_  
 _I know it’s only an illusion of freedom._

XII.  
 _I have lost One before,_  
 _I refuse to lose This One,_  
 _My fury and hatred will be known._

XIII  
 _Chaos around me,_  
 _Blood and fear and death,_  
 _I will use it to my advantage to be free._

XIV.  
 _A new world to explore,_  
 _New sights and smells and wonders,_  
 _I feel terrified._

 


End file.
